By Richa Naidu
LONDON (Reuters) – Malaysia’s Muralitharan Thinaah was an extroverted, bubbly 15-year-old in 2013 when she met her future women’s doubles partner, Pearly Tan, two years her junior.
Tan, in contrast, was a shy girl who Thinaah slowly brought out of her shell and they eventually became close confidantes.
“I know everything, she knows all my secrets,” Thinaah said as the pair laughed.
They have been playing together since their time at a badminton academy in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur and made their Olympic debut on Saturday.
The match should have ended quickly.
Thinaah and Tan were up against Chinese title favourites Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan, who are expected to take no prisoners in Paris.
But Tan and Thinaah put up a passionate fight as they came close to pulling off an upset, going neck-and-neck in both games before the Chinese pair prevailed 21-17 22-20.
The Malaysians produced many high-flying shots, with the most entertaining being when they leapt up to hit five smashes during a ferocious 13-shot rally.
Midway through the second game, Tan and Thinaah tripped over on to the floor together after they got tangled in each other’s legs and it looked like it was curtains for them.
However, they rallied and closed the gap with China again, one-upping each other point-for-point.
Chants of “Malaysia” echoed through the crowd in the final moments of the second game, with loud cheering and whistling when Tan and Thinaah fought their way to a 20-20 score.
“So near yet so far,” Thinaah said.
Though they ultimately lost, the duo plan to approach their next match with the same ferocity and teamwork.
“This really boosts our confidence,” Tan said. “We have to keep this momentum for the next one. In a competition like this anything can happen.”
(Reporting by Richa Naidu, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
