KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 — Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan made history in Paris today when they became the first Malaysian women's doubles pair to advance to the final of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships.
In a dramatic 68-minute semi-final clash at the Adidas Arena, world number two Tan-Thinaah stayed calm and composed to down world number three Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida of Japan 14-21, 21-13, 21-12.
What's more notable is that this is only the Malaysians’ third win in 16 encounters against the Japanese pair.
Tan-Thinaah will face either top seeds Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning of China or Japan's Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi in the title showdown tomorrow.
This is also their best-ever achievement at the World Championships in four outings, with their previous best being a quarter-final appearance in the 2023 edition.
“I still think it is unbelievable that we are in the final because of what we went through the past few weeks. To be here today, I think words cannot describe how happy we are,” Tan said in an audio clip shared by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM).
With the Malaysians marching into the final, Matsuyama-Shida will have to be content with taking home the bronze medal.
