Pearly-Thinaah lift Arctic Open crown to make history

Pearly-Thinaah lift Arctic Open crown to make history

They beat Japan's Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi 21-7, 21-9 in just 31 minutes to become the first Malaysians to lift the women’s doubles title at the tournament.

Pearly Tan Thinaah Muralitharan
Pearly Tan-M Thinaah will take home US$37,525 (RM158,468) for their efforts. (AP pic)
PETALING JAYA:
National women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M Thinaah created a second Malaysian badminton record in two months by winning the Arctic Open title.

In the final today, they defeated world No 6 pair Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi 21-7, 21-9 in just 31 minutes to become the first Malaysian women’s pair to lift the women’s doubles title at the tournament, played at the Energia Areena in Vantaa, Finland.

The Malaysians have now beaten the Japanese pair six times in their eight encounters.

In August, the world No 2 duo became the first national women’s doubles pair to enter the BWF World Championships final and win a silver medal.

Pearly-Thinaah take home US$37,525 (RM158,468) for winning the women’s doubles title at the Arctic Open.

This is also the second title for Pearly-Thinaah this year, having made it to six finals thus far. Their last victory was in May at the finals of the Thailand Open.

Malaysians will also feature in the last match of the day in the men’s doubles final where Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik will take on English pair Ben Lane-Sean Vendy.

If they win, it will be a first for the nation to lift two titles at the Arctic Open since the tournament’s inception in 1995.

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