Kuala Lumpur: All defeats are disappointing, but Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan and Man Wei Chong/Tee Kai Wun’s resilience and determination were on full display throughout the 2023 Malaysia Masters tournament, and they have showcased their incredible skill despite fighting against higher-ranked opponents.
Highlights of Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan vs. Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee in the 2023 Malaysia Masters Final:
The World No. 11 women’s pair of Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan displayed high fighting spirit before going down to the World No. 6 Korean pair, Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee 20-22, 21-8, 17-21 in the final action which took place at the Axiata Arena Bukit Jalil on Sunday.
The battle was so intense that at the end of the third set saw Thinaah wanted to throw up after going through a long rally.
Pearly Tan admitted the lack of stamina has caused them to make too many unforced errors in the decider.
“I don’t think the vomiting from Thinaah has affected our game,” said Tan.
“I think the main reason was that after 11 points in the third set, we lost focus due to a lack of stamina which caused us to make simple mistakes. So, after this we will go back and work hard to improve our stamina level for the next tournament,” added Tan.
Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee took home a cash prize of US$33,180 (RM152,661) while Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan earned US$15,960 (RM73,431) as runners-up.
Highlights of Man Wei Chong/Tee Kai Wun vs. Kang Min Hyuk/Seo Seung Jae in the 2023 Malaysia Masters Final:
After losing the first game to World No. 16 Kang Min Hyuk/Seo Seung Jae 15-21 in the men’s doubles final, World No. 26 Man Wei Chong/Tee Kai Wun were on the verge of suffering a straight-set defeat when they were trailing 18-20 in the second game. However, Man/Tee didn’t give up and they saved 3 match points to eventually win the second game 24-22.
Although they lost the decider to Kang/Seo 19-21, if they continue to show a positive attitude and fighting spirit on the court, they’ll have all the qualities to become one of the World’s top 10 men’s doubles pairs.
Meanwhile, in men’s singles, HS Prannoy made history when he became the first Indian men’s singles player to win the Malaysia Masters title.
Highlights of HS Prannoy vs. Weng Hong Yang in the 2023 Malaysia Masters Final:
This victory came after Prannoy, who is ranked World No. 9, recorded a victory over Chinese player, Weng Hong Yang 21-19, 13-21, 21-18 in the final.
Since the tournament was introduced in 2009, India has only won the championship in the women’s singles event which saw PV Sindhu emerge victorious in the 2013 and 2016 editions while Saina Nehwal 2017.
The women’s singles competition saw Japan’s World No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi need only 34 minutes to tame World No. 9 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia 21-17, 21-7 while Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai overcame Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping of China 16-21, 21-13, 21-18 to win the mixed doubles title.
