Doubles joy for Malaysia at badminton world championships in Paris
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Malaysia's Pearly Tan (top) and Thinaah Muralitharan celebrating after winning their Badminton World Federation World Championships women's doubles semi-final match.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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PARIS – Malaysia made two finals at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships for the first time since the meet’s inception in 1977 on Aug 30.
Their first finalists came in the women’s doubles, when second-ranked Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan came from a game down to beat Japan’s world No. 3 Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida at the Adidas Arena in Paris.
It was just their third win in 16 meetings against the Japanese duo.
National coaching director Rexy Mainaky was quoted by The New Straits Times as saying: “It’s God’s blessing and a reward for all the hard work the players have put in during training. Both pairs were excellent today.”
He added of the women’s duo: “They started quite slow and followed Matsuyama-Shida’s rhythm in the first game, but after that they became very deceptive, applied the pressure, and managed to gain their rhythm and momentum for a fine win (14-21, 21-13, 21-12).”
In the final they face top-ranked Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning of China, who thrashed another Japanese pair, No. 9 Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi, 21-15, 21-4.
Malaysia’s second finalists came in the mixed doubles via fourth-ranked Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei.
Malaysia’s second finalists came in the mixed doubles via fourth-ranked Chen Tang Jie (left) and Toh Ee Wei.
PHOTO: AFP
They were up against the sole home hope left in the competition, France’s world No. 8 Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue.
Coming into the tie, the duo had already made history by earning France’s first medal at the world championships.
But they were not able to advance to the final as Chen and Toh prevailed 21-18, 21-16 for their fourth win in six meetings against the French pair.
Said Mainaky: “They were exceptional today. They supported each other very well and their communication on court was very positive.”
With both finals set for Malaysia’s National Day, there is hope that Aug 31 will be extra special in 2025.
Standing in Chen and Toh’s way are China’s Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin.
They reached their first world championships final, beating Chinese compatriots and world No. 7 Guo Xinwa and Chen Fanghui 11-21, 23-21, 21-18.
It extended the second seeds’ perfect record against Guo and Chen to 4-0.
In the women’s singles, there was a big upset as defending champion and world No. 1 An Se-young of South Korea was beaten 21-15, 21-17 by China’s 2020 Olympic champion Chen Yufei in the battle between the last two Games gold medallists.
Said An: “I couldn’t manage to get used to the conditions of the hall today, so it was a bit of a bitter match for me.
“(Chen twisting her ankle) didn’t mean that the match actually ended, so I was busy taking care of my match, and I guess I lost my way at the same time,” the 23-year-old added of her opponent, who received treatment immediately after the match.
The other finalist is two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi, who reached the showpiece for the first time since winning on home soil in Tokyo in 2022, after beating Indonesia’s world No. 9 Putri Kusuma Wardani 21-17, 14-21, 21-6.
The Japanese world No. 5 won back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022, to go with bronzes in 2018 and 2023.
She beat Chen in the showpiece in 2022 to win her second world crown.
The results of the men’s singles and men’s doubles semi-finals were not available at press time.
