Pearly-Thinaah storm into German Open semis

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian women's doubles badminton champions Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah were clearly in a class of they own when they became the only representatives of the country to book a slot in the semi-finals of the German Open 2023 in Mulheim.

The world number six pair defeated Japanese pair Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara 21-17, 18-21, 21-11 in the quarter-finals of the Super 300 tournament early this morning (Friday night in Germany).

The 2022 Commonwealth Games champions will square off against top-seeded Japanese pair Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida at about midnight tonight Malaysian time in their quest to book a ticket to the final in this edition.

In the past clashes between them, Pearly-Thinaah, who are the third seeds in the tournament, have only beaten Nami-Chiharu once, at the 2022 French Open, while having lost to the world second-ranked women's doubles pair seven times.

Meanwhile,national mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei lost to world number 14 Kim Won Ho-Jeong Na Eun of South Korea, 20-22, 14-21 in their quarter-final clash that lasted 41 minutes.- BERNAMA