On the Right Road

Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan

On the Right Road

They have been medal contenders at the BWF World Championships before, but as Paris 2025 comes into view, Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan’s form suggests they could make history for Malaysia.

Strangely for a country that’s considered a traditional powerhouse in the sport, no Malaysian women’s doubles pair has ever won a World Championships medal. Tan and Muralitharan were well on their way to breaking that jinx at the last edition of the World Championships in Copenhagen, leading Zhang Shu Xian/Zheng Yu in the quarterfinals before letting slip their advantage.

Pearly and Thinaah after their quarterfinal loss at the World Championships 2023

If their form through 2024 and particularly 2025 is any indication, though, the Malaysian duo are a much more potent pair than they were two years ago.

A semifinal at the India Open was followed by a final at the Indonesia Masters and a last-eight finish at the All England. Then came their first title of 2025 – winning the Thailand Open while dropping only one game on the way. This was followed by a semifinal at the Malaysia Masters and a quarterfinal in Singapore before their best-ever showing at a Super 1000 – making the final of the Indonesia Open.

“Words can’t describe how happy we are,” Muralitharan said, after they’d made the final beating Li Yi Jing/Luo Xu Min. “One game down, we just supported each other and didn’t want to give up. Today was a crucial point because it was about the mental ability.”

Tan added: “We just reminded each other to be patient, to not rush, and we wanted to enjoy the game.”

Facing Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning in the final, the Malaysians battled all the way against the world’s best pair, taking the match deep and losing by a narrow margin. Despite the loss, they were upbeat, for the level of the performance proved they are closing in on the big prizes.

But it wasn’t just about the results, or that they’d made their career-high ranking of No.3 – there’s now a certain swagger on court, borne out of confidence as they have steadily become more solid in all departments. Defensively they are able to keep rallies going even from hopeless positions; while in attack, there’s greater sting, with both sharing the workload around the court.

Typically, both Tan and Muralitharan offer only generic bytes on the upswing in their performances.

“It’s about communication, and staying calm, so we hope we can always remember this,” says Tan, while Muralitharan claimed it is about “supporting each other on every point”.

Rexy Mainaky, Director of Doubles, emphasises that their improvement shouldn’t be seen exclusive of other parts of the system, with enhanced coordination between coaches, psychologists, video analysts and S&C (strength and conditioning) trainers.

Mainaky however acknowledges the strides they have made.

“In doubles, we need a creator and a killer. But you cannot train only for that. We also have to compete with opponents in midcourt and rear court. The rear court person should be able to play at the net, (and vice-versa) that makes it more enjoyable.

“I can see they are getting there. It started early this year, they got better in India and the Indonesia Masters, All England, Thailand Open, Malaysia Masters… The big factor is they know about themselves, their ability. A change happened when Pearly twisted her ankle at the All England, and you could see Thinaah boosting her confidence.

“They have the feeling, they only need to get consistent in every tournament.”