Pearly–Thinaah eye final after ending 12-year medal wait

AICHI: Pearly Tan–M Thinaah have ended Malaysia's 12-year wait for a women's doubles medal at the Asian Games.

Now they want a place in the final and a shot at gold.

Malaysia's world No. 5 pair secured at least a bronze by beating India's Gayatri Gopichand–Treesa Jolly 21-18, 21-9 in 42 minutes in the quarter-finals on Sunday.

They are the first Malaysian women's doubles pair to reach the Asian Games podium since Vivian Hoo–Woon Khe Wei won bronze at Incheon 2014.

A tougher test awaits Pearly–Thinaah in Monday's semi-finals against China's world No. 1 Liu Sheng Shu–Tan Ning.

The Malaysians have won only three of their 13 meetings, including a defeat in last year's World Championships final.

Pearly acknowledged that they would start as underdogs but said their focus remained on the match ahead.

"Of course everyone wants to reach the final, but tomorrow's semi-final will not be easy. We are the underdogs, as usual," she said after the quarter-final.

"We want to focus on one match at a time and carry the feeling we had from the first match into every match."

Thinaah said learning how long Malaysia had waited for another women's doubles medal gave them added motivation, although they had tried to keep their attention on their own game.

"It is motivating, but we have not thought too much about it. Over the past few weeks, we have focused on ourselves and our partnership," she said.

"We just want to do our best and leave the court with no regrets."

Thinaah said their friendship had helped them work through injuries and periods of inconsistent form.

"We are best friends on and off the court. If something is wrong, we talk about it and try to understand each other. That relationship helps us a lot on court," she said.

Pearly thanked Thinaah for standing by her through recurring injuries.

"There were times when I could not train with her and she had to train alone. But she never gave up on me and always waited for me to return," she said.