Paris 2024: Pearly-Thinaah Set to Face South Korea’s So Yeong-Hee Yong in Badminton Quarter-Finals
Paris 2024: Pearly-Thinaah Set to Face South Korea’s So Yeong-Hee Yong in Badminton Quarter-Finals Paris, July 30 — National women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah are set to face South Korea’s reigning bronze medallists, Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong, in the quarter-finals of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Thursday. The knockout stage draw was completed following the group fixtures at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena.
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, So Yeong and Kong secured a bronze medal by defeating compatriots Lee So Hee and Shin Seung Chan in the third-place playoff. In their only previous encounter, during the 2021 World Tour Finals group stage, the South Korean pair defeated Pearly and Thinaah with scores of 14-21 and 14-21.
Should Pearly and Thinaah advance past the quarter-finals against the world number 10 pair, they could potentially face China’s four-time world champions Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan. Pearly and Thinaah previously lost to the Chinese duo with scores of 17-21 and 20-22 in their Group A match on Saturday. The Chinese pair is favored to advance to the semi-finals, with a likely match against Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva of Bulgaria.
After their defeat to Chen and Jia, Pearly and Thinaah bounced back impressively. They stunned Japan’s two-time world champions Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara the following day, and later defeated the world number nine pair Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti to qualify for the quarter-finals as group runners-up.
In the other half of the bracket, world number two pair Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hae from South Korea will face China’s Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning. Meanwhile, Japan’s Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida will compete against Denmark’s Maiken Fruergaard and Sara Thygesen. — Bernama
