All the way now: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah playing against Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti. Inset: Vivian Hoo. — AP
VIVIAN Hoo remembers the joy she felt when she and partner Woon Khe Wei became the first Malaysian women’s doubles shuttlers to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
However, their dream of glory was dashed by Japan’s eventual gold medallists Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi, but not before a tough three-game battle.
“When the game finished, I remember I felt like crying. Although we lost, we had given our best already.,” she said.
Vivian is back at the Olympics in Paris, but as a spectator now – and nothing would give her more joy than seeing the current women doubles pair of Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah surpass her achievement.
Debutants Pearly-Thinaah became only the second women’s doubles pair after Vivian-Khe Wei to reach the quarter-finals of the Olympics yesterday.
They held their nerves to clinch a superb 21-18, 21-9 upset victory over Indonesia’s world No. 9 Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti in their last group match at Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle.
The Malaysians world No 13 pair came in second in Group A, just like Vivian-Khe Wei back in 2016.
It was a fantastic feat as they were in the toughest group in the competition, with China’s world No. 1 Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan also there. Pearly-Thinaah were, in fact, the lowest ranked pair in their group.
Vivian, who was cheering her compatriots at the stadium, has now called on the pair to create history by making it beyond the last eight.
“I went to Paris with my cousin and friends and I was very excited although I’m not the one playing,” said Vivian.
“I hope Pearly-Thinaah can go better than us and even win a medal for Malaysia. Anything can happen in the Olympics.”
The Malaysian pair narrowly went down 17-21, 20-22 to Qingchen-Yifan in their first match before recovering well to pull off a stunning 18-21, 21-15, 21-16 win over Japan’s former two-time world champions and world No. 6 Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara.
With the Chinese pair beating Matsumoto-Nagahara 21-16, 21-15 earlier yesterday, the Malaysians just needed to win to make it into the quarter-finals. And they did it in style, winning in straight games in 43 minutes.
Vivian credited Pearly-Thinaah for handling the enormous pressure. “I think they really handled the pressure well in their last two matches. They were in a very tough group,” said Vivian.
“I’m sure they will have gained confidence to face any pair in the quarters.”
Pearly-Thinaah admitted that it was not easy to control their nerves ahead the crucial clash and were relieved to pull through.
“We already knew the results of the other match and were quite nervous because this was a must-win match for us,” said Thinaah in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“We have been quite stressed out thinking about today’s (yesterday) game. I think this (the pressure) was even worse than our first two matches. This is a new experience for us.
“In the beginning, it was quite tough for us. We threw points that we should not have.
“But after that, we slowly got back our momentum and confidence.”
Pearly-Thinaah will now face a winner from the other groups in the last eight after a fresh draw for the knockout rounds. But the pair are ready for any test.,
“We came out from a tough group and we have been already preparing for tough matches (from the beginning of the competition),” said Pearly.
“We just want to maintain our momentum.”
