Badminton: Pearly-Thinaah & Tang Jie-Ee Wei Reach Semis Despite Losses

PETALING JAYA: World No. 2 women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have failed to maintain their perfect record in the World Tour Finals group stage after going down to Japan’s Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto on Friday (Dec 19).

Already assured of a semi-finals spot going into their Group A match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre, Pearly-Thinaah were aiming to secure top spot in the group.

However, the Japanese pair, who needed to win to stay in the competition, managed to secure the win.

In a closely fought contest, late errors cost the Malaysian pair dearly as they fell 15-21, 21-16, 19-21.

Mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei suffered a similar setback in Group B after losing to China’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping in a match to decide the group winner.

The world champions were edged out 18-21, 24-26 after a gruelling 53-minute battle.

Meanwhile, in Group A, last year’s semi-finalists Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie endured a disappointing end to their campaign, finishing bottom of the group following a third straight defeat, this time to Indonesia’s Jafar Hidayatullah and Felisha Pasaribu.

The husband-and-wife pair went down 17-21, 17-21 in 34 minutes and were already out from semi-finals contention.