Heartbreak as Pearly-Thinaah fall to top Chinese pair at Japan Open
PETALING JAYA : National women's doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M Thinaah failed to clinch a historic Japan Open title after losing to China's world No 1 pair Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning in straight games.
The world No 3 Malaysian pair fell 15-21, 14-21 to the powerful Chinese duo in 44 minutes at the Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo today.
With this loss, Pearly-Thinaah's hopes of creating badminton history by becoming the first Malaysian women's doubles pair to win a Japan Open title were dashed.
The Malaysian duo take home US$33,250 (RM141,170) as runners-up in the World Tour Super 750 event while the winners pocket US$70,300 (RM298,500).
This is the fourth win for Sheng Shu-Tan Ning against the Malaysians in their five encounters so far.
They last met at the Indonesia Open final last month where the Chinese pair prevailed in three games.
Pearly-Thinaah appeared in four finals at the World Tour championships this year but only won the Thailand Open in May.
So far, they have won four World Tour titles in their career.
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