IF only MCA and MIC can be as stellar as the in-form women doubles pairing of Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah can there be a chance for the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to regain the support of the Chinese and Indian communities, who have no better option but to desert both component parties in favour of Pakatan Harapan.
One of the most formidable multi-ethnical pairing that truly reflects a harmonious Malaysia in recent times – the Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medallists in both the team and individual events – has been impressive on the court, to the point Indonesian coach Eng Hian had to issue an apology for dubbing the duo putih (white) and hitam (black) during the on-going French Open tournament.
Recall that during a Round of 16 match between the Malaysian pair and Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi on Thursday (Oct 27), Eng Hian was overheard branding Pearly and Thinaah with that discriminatory remark.
Permintaan maaf Coach Eng Hian terkait penggunaan sebutan ‘hitam’ dan ‘putih’ saat Ana/Tiwi melawan Pearly/Thinaah di R16 #FrenchOpen2022 kemarin. pic.twitter.com/cepEkwbkci
— Rubber Game Indonesia (@rubbergameid) October 28, 2022
The Malaysians eventually ousted their Indonesian opponents to win in straight game s 21-16, 21-14.
And yesterday (Oct 28), Pearly-Thinaah ensured themselves of a foot in the finals after emerging victorious from a game down to eventually triumph against the Japanese All England champions Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida 15-21, 21-14, 21-14 in 73 minutes.
A display of excellent skills and true grit – re-living the Malaysia Boleh spirit in sports as the whole nation is engulfed in the 15th General Election (GE15) craze – the never-give-up spirit and stamina has proven to be key ingredients in the success of Pearly-Thinaah ever since they broke into the national badminton scene in 2019.
In the semi-finals later today, the Kedah-born Pearly, 22, and “sisterly” Klang-hail Thinaah, 24, will face off with South Koreans Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee, who had earlier dumped out top seeds Chen Qingchen-Jia Yi Fan.
Both Pearly and Thinaah are the only Malaysians left in the French Open after men’s doubles pair of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi went down to South Korea’s Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho in yesterday’s quarter-final round.
For the record, national men’s single ace Lee Zii Jia failed to clear the opening round in the tournament after he crashed out to Indonesia’s unseeded Indonesian Shesar Hiren Rhustavito 19-21, 18-21 in 44 minutes.
On Sunday (Oct 23), Zii Jia finished runner-up in the Denmark Open after going down 18-21, 21-16, 12-21 to China’s Shi Yuqi.
After bowing out from the Denmark Open in style – losing to the China’s world’s No. 1 of Qing Chen-Yi Fan in the Round of 16 18-21, 22-20, 17-21 – Malaysians will surely put the GE15 temporarily in the backburner to rally behind their women’s double’s pair, especially after Pearly has just rebounded from an almost two-month inaction from a hamstring injury sustained at the Japan Open (Aug 30-Sept 4). – Oct 29, 2022
Main photo credit: FMT
