Pearly-Thinaah lose in HK Open final after early promise

 

It was Pearly Tan-M Thinaah’s second loss in a final this year, having finished as runners-up in the Malaysia Masters 2023 in May. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Top national women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M Thinaah failed to win the women’s doubles crown at the Hong Kong Open 2023 badminton championships after showing early promise.

In today’s final at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon, world No 10 Pearly-Thinaah lost in a rubber game to Indonesians Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti 21-14, 22-14, 9-21 in a match that lasted nearly an hour. The Indonesians are ranked higher at No 8.

Although Pearly-Thinaah won the first game rather easily at 21-14 and took an early 12-8 lead in the second, the Indonesians fought back in a nail-biting finish to win 24-22 after giving away four match points in the second game.

In the rubber game, the Malaysians crumbled to the seemingly fitter Indonesian pair who won without much resistance.

This was Pearly-Thinaah’s second loss in a final this season, having gone down 22-20, 8-21, 21-17 to South Korea’s Baek Ha Na-Lee So Hee in the Malaysia Masters 2023 in May.

The sixth-seeded Pearly-Thinaah last won a title in October 2022 when they stunned two-time world champions Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara of Japan 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 in the French Open. - FMT