Pearly-Thinaah showing true form, says coach

 

Pearly Tan and M Thinaah celebrating their victory over Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti in their Group A match at the 2024 Paris Olympics today. (Bernama pic)

PARIS: 

National women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M Thinaah showed what they are made of when they advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2024 Paris Olympics, said their coach Hoon Thien How.

He said the 13th-ranked pair successfully navigated the 

Group of Death

, which featured three pairs in the world’s top 10, through their commendable performance.

Pearly-Thinaah, who lost to China’s four-time world champions Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan in their first Group A match on Saturday, bounced back to defeat Japan’s two-time world champions Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara on Sunday.

In a do-or-die mission against world No 9 pair Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti today, Pearly-Thinaah stunned the Indonesian pair 21-18, 21-9 to secure a spot in the quarter-finals.

Based on the evaluation of these three matches, even though they lost the first match, their performance was actually better compared to before,

 said Hoon.

“I can see that they were able to play their true game in these three matches.

Their combination (play) is good in this tournament, (and) they also motivated and encouraged each other throughout the matches.

The quarter-final round starts on Thursday. The draw will be held after all the group matches have been completed tonight.

As Group A runners-up, Pearly-Thinaah will be drawn to face one of the group champions, except Group A winners Qing Chen-Yi Fan, in the quarter-finals.

Pearly, who said the pressure and stress affected their game today, thanked Thinaah for helping her keep her composure.

Knowing this was a must-win game was really tough mentally because we needed to be more consistent and calm,

 said Pearly.

“We committed some simple mistakes in the first set that we shouldn’t have, especially me.

I was nervous and felt under pressure because I really wanted to win the match. But Thinaah calmed me down and supported me … I’m really very happy we won,

 she said.

Thinaah added that the duo were stressed thinking about today’s match as they knew it was key to the survival of both the Malaysian and Indonesian pairs in the Olympics.

This match was the worst (in terms of pressure) because it was a really crucial match for both of us. Bringing that pressure onto the court … it was a new feeling and experience for both of us,

 said Thinaah.

We always comfort each other in such situations, I think that is what is most important as a pair. - FMT