Despite the heartbreak suffered by Malaysian women’s pair Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah, who missed out on an Olympic medal after losing to Japan’s Chiharu Shida and Nami Matsuyama yesterday, they hope that their historic run will inspire the youth of Malaysia.
In an interview with BWF, Pearly-Thinaah hopes to impress Malaysia’s young players so that they, too, can qualify for the Olympics as contenders.
Thinaah said she hopes that their Olympic journey will inspire Malaysian juniors to seek excellence at the world level.
Although they did not finish on the podium, their fourth-place finish saw them create history as the first Malaysian women’s pair to play off for bronze at the Olympics.
“It is tough to feel positive right now after the defeat. I think it will take time for us to digest this,” said Thinaah.
“But I do realise that this is a good achievement for us, and I’m proud of us. I hope this will give our juniors hope that anything is possible and inspire them to strive harder to get better.”
“A lot of people didn’t believe in us in the beginning, so for us to reach this level, we need to give ourselves some credit,” Thinaah told BWF.
Meanwhile, Pearly said she felt sad that they could not bring home a medal but accepted the defeat and wants to focus on the positives instead.
“I feel really sad, but we have accepted the defeat. We take the positives and learn from this.”
“Our opponents pressured us well and made it difficult for us to win any points. This made us impatient, and we rushed to kill off points, which led to errors,” she said.
“I have to praise them (Chiharu-Nami) for handling the pressure well and being aggressive all the way, which led to our defeat,” added Thinaah.
The duo will enjoy a short break with friends and family members, who travelled to Paris to support them before returning home.
Thank you for making us proud!
Also read: Pearly & Thinaah Loses Bronze Medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics Following Intense Match
