KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 — The hopes of national women’s doubles, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah to advance to the semi-finals were dashed when they lost to India’s Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichan in the second match of Group A of the 2024 World Tour Finals (WTF) campaign in Hangzhou, China today.
The match, which took place at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center, saw the world’s sixth-ranked pair fall to Treesa-Gayatri 19-21, 19-21 in 46 minutes.
This was Pearly-Thinaah’s second defeat in the tournament after also losing to the Japanese pair, Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida 21-13, 17-21, 18-21 in the first match of Group A yesterday.
Only the top two pairs from each group will qualify for the semi-finals in this season’s tournament.
Awaiting Pearly-Thinaah in the next match in Group A are tournament seeds Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning from China, who have already secured their semi-final ticket after winning two consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, national mixed doubles, Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei qualified for the semi-finals after defeating Indonesian representatives Dejan Febrinansyah-Dejan Ferdinansyah-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja today.
In the action that took place at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center, Tang Jie-Ee Wei had no trouble defeating their opponents 21-17, 21-18 in 49 minutes.
The national pair will face Japanese pair Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito in the final group B match.
Earlier, Hiroki-Natsu conceded a straight set defeat 14-21, 14-21, to professional mixed doubles, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai.
Soon Huat-Shevon will face Dejan-Gloria tomorrow for a chance to reach the semi-finals after losing to Tang Jie-Ee Wei yesterday. — Bernama
