Asian Games: Pearly-Thinaah must overcome 2-year winless drought against Chinese pair to reach final

National women's doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah must find a way to overcome a two-year losing streak against their opponents if they intend to reach the Asian Games final.

The world number five have ensured a medal for Malaysia after they comfortably brushed aside Indian pair Gayathri Gopichand-Tressa Jolly 21-18, 21-9 to reach the semi-finals on Sunday.

Their victory ends also ends a 12-year wait for an Asian Games women's doubles medal since Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei won bronze in 2014.

But the bigger mission for Tan-Thinaah is to find a way to end their losing streak against China's world number one Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning.

The Malaysians last beat the Chinese pair at the 2024 Hong Kong Open final.

Since then, they have gone on to lose six times, including in three finals at the Indonesia Open, Japan Open and World Championships last year.

Tan-Thinaah have not played the Chinese pair this year, so they may fancy their chances to start off with a clean slate.

The national women's pair are the only Malaysians left standing in the competition after men's pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin lost in straight games 11-21, 13-21 against Chinese pair Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang.