Wikipedia

Thinaah Muralitharan

This article is about a person whose name includes a patronymic. The article properly refers to the person by her given name, Thinaah, and not as Muralitharan.

Thinaah Muralitharan BKS (born 3 January 1998) is a Malaysian badminton player. An Olympian, she and Pearly Tan created history by becoming the first ever Malaysian semi-finalists at the women's doubles event at the 2024 Summer Olympics. She won the gold medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the women's doubles with partner Pearly Tan and in the mixed team event.[1][2]

Thinaah Muralitharan
தீனா முரளிதரன்
Thinaah at the 2022 Commonwealth Games medal ceremony.
Personal information
CountryMalaysia
Born (1998-01-03) 3 January 1998 (age 26)
Klang, Selangor, Malaysia
Height1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
Years active2013–present
HandednessRight
CoachHoon Thien How
Rexy Mainaky
Women's & mixed doubles
Highest ranking5 (WD with Pearly Tan, 31 January 2023)
282 (XD with Tee Kai Wun, 3 March 2020)
Current ranking6 (WD with Pearly Tan, 19 November 2024)
Medal record
Women's badminton
Representing  Malaysia
Sudirman Cup
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Vantaa Mixed team
Bronze medal – third place 2023 Suzhou Mixed team
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2022 Birmingham Women's doubles
Gold medal – first place 2022 Birmingham Mixed team
Asia Team Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2020 Manila Women's team
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Selangor Women's team
World Junior Championships
Silver medal – second place 2016 Bilbao Mixed team
BWF profile

Career

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In 2021, Thinaah and Pearly Tan clinched their first BWF World Tour title at the Swiss Open.[3]

In 2022, Thinaah and Tan claimed the French Open title, becoming the first ever Malaysian women's doubles pair to achieve this feat.[4]

Thinaah and her partner Tan best result in 2023 were finalists in the Malaysia Masters and Hong Kong Open.[5][6]

Thinaah and Tan became the first ever Malaysian women's doubles pair to advance to the semi-finals of an Olympic Games at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Ranked 13th in the world at the time, they were drawn alongside Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan from China, Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara from Japan, and Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti from Indonesia, ranked 1st, 6th, and 9th in the world respectively.[7] Having successfully advanced from the group stage with a 2–1 record, they defeated then ranked 7th in the world Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong from Korea in the quarter-finals in straight sets, before falling to Chen and Jia in the semi-finals and Japan's Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida in the bronze medal match.

Thinaah and Tan reached their first final in 2024 at the Korea Open, finished as runner-up to home pair Jeong Na-eun and Kim Hye-jeong.[8]

Personal life

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Thinaah is the second child of S. Muralitharan and Parimala Devi Kalalingam.[9] She has an older brother and a younger sister, Selinaah Muralitharan, who is a former Selangor state shuttler.[10] She is fluent in all four main languages spoken in Malaysia: Tamil, Malay, English, and Mandarin, in which she picked up from her ethnic Chinese friends whilst studying at Bukit Jalil Sports School.[11][12] In October 2024, Thinaah graduated with a Bachelor of Education in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) at Open University Malaysia. She was also conferred a special sports icon award during the convocation. [13]

Awards

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Year Award Category Result
2022 Selangor Sports Awards 2021-2022 Selangor Sportswoman Won[14]
National Sports Awards National women's team (with Pearly Tan) Won[15]
2023 Nambikkai Star Icon Awards Best Sports Personality Won[16]
2024 Dr. Ambedkar International Award Won[17]
Open University Malaysia 28th Convocation Sports Icon Won[13]

Honours

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Honours of Malaysia

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Achievements

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Commonwealth Games

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The six medallists in the women's badminton doubles at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Left to right: Chloe Birch and Lauren Smith (England), Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan (Malaysia), Treesa Jolly and Gayathri Gopichand (India).

Women's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result Ref
2022 National Exhibition Centre,
Birmingham, England 		  Pearly Tan   Chloe Birch
  Lauren Smith 		21–5, 21–8   Gold [19]

BWF World Tour (3 titles, 4 runners-up)

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The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[20] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tours are divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.[21]

Women's doubles

Year Tournament Level Partner Opponent Score Result Ref
2021 Swiss Open Super 300   Pearly Tan   Gabriela Stoeva
  Stefani Stoeva 		21–19, 21–12   Winner [22]
2022 French Open Super 750   Pearly Tan   Mayu Matsumoto
  Wakana Nagahara 		21–19, 18–21, 21–15   Winner [23]
2023 Malaysia Masters Super 500   Pearly Tan   Baek Ha-na
  Lee So-hee 		20–22, 21–8, 17–21   Runner-up [5]
2023 Hong Kong Open Super 500   Pearly Tan   Apriyani Rahayu
  Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti 		21–14, 22–24, 9–21   Runner-up [6]
2024 Korea Open Super 500   Pearly Tan   Jeong Na-eun
  Kim Hye-jeong 		12–21, 11–21   Runner-up [8]
2024 Hong Kong Open Super 500   Pearly Tan   Liu Shengshu
  Tan Ning 		21–14, 21–14   Winner [24]
2024 Arctic Open Super 500   Pearly Tan   Liu Shengshu
  Tan Ning 		12–21, 17–21   Runner-up

BWF International Challenge/Series (5 titles, 2 runners-up)

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Women's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
2018 Iran Fajr International   Lee Ying Ying 11–8, 11–6, 9–11, 11–9   Winner
2018 Dutch International   Julie Dawall Jakobsen 21–17, 15–21, 11–21   Runner-up

Women's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result
2018 Malaysia International   Payee Lim Peiy Yee   Cheng Yu-chieh
  Chung Kan-yu 		21–17, 21–14   Winner
2019 Malaysia International   Pearly Tan   Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma
  Ribka Sugiarto 		21–16, 11–21, 21–18   Winner
2019 Sydney International   Pearly Tan   Cheng Yu-chieh
  Tseng Yu-chi 		17–21, 21–17, 13–21   Runner-up
2019 India International   Pearly Tan   Teoh Mei Xing
  Yap Ling 		21–18, 21–14   Winner
2019 Bangladesh International   Pearly Tan   K. Maneesha
  Rutaparna Panda 		22–20, 21–19   Winner
  BWF International Challenge tournament
  BWF International Series tournament

References

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  1. ^ Tan, Ming Wai (8 August 2022). "Pearly-Thinaah win, Malaysia surpass Commonwealth target". New Straits Times. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  2. ^ Tan, Ming Wai (3 August 2022). "In smashing mood for four gold". New Straits Times. Archived from the original on 5 August 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  3. ^ "Swiss Open: Pearly-Thinaah capture title". Badminton Association of Malaysia. 7 March 2021. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  4. ^ Anil, Nicolas (30 October 2022). "French Open: Pearly-Thinaah create history after sensational final triumph". Stadium Astro. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  5. ^ a b Tan, Ming Wai (28 May 2023). "Pearly-Thinaah go down fighting in dramatic Malaysia Masters final". New Straits Times. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  6. ^ a b Anil, Nicolas (17 September 2023). "Hong Kong Open: Pearly-Thinaah finish as runners-up". Stadium Astro. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  7. ^ "BWF - BWF World Rankings - Overview". bwf.tournamentsoftware.com. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Pearly-Thinaah, Runners-up In Korea Open 2024". Bernama. 1 September 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  9. ^ "Thinaah harap Deepavali bawa tuah". Stadium Astro (in Malay). 18 October 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  10. ^ Intan Maizura Ahmad Kamal (29 November 2020). "Former shuttler gets into the Asia Book of Records for the longest love poem!". New Straits Times. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  11. ^ Peter, Fabian (7 May 2020). "Rising badminton stars good in 4 languages". New Straits Times. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  12. ^ Anil, Nicolas (5 June 2021). "Thinaah credits partnership success with Pearly to multilingual skill". Stadium Astro. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  13. ^ a b JAAYNE JEEVITA (27 October 2024). "Thinaah serves up success". The Star. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  14. ^ Bernama (4 June 2023). "Karate-do exponent Sharmendran, Thinaah crowned Selangor Sportsman, Sportswoman 2021-2022". Malay Mail. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  15. ^ Bernama (18 July 2023). "ASN 2022: Aaron-Wooi Yik, Joe Ee crowned national sportsman and sportswoman". The Sun Daily. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  16. ^ Thinaah Muralitharan (28 October 2023). "நேற்று நடந்த நம்பிக்கை நட்சத்திரம் 2023 விருது (Star Icon Awards 2023) விழாவிற்கு என்னை அழைத்தமைக்கு மிக்க நன்றி. சிறந்த விளையாட்டாளர் விருதிற்கும் மனமார்ந்த நன்றிகள். வரும் காலங்களில் இத்துறையில் சிறப்பாகச் செயல்பட முயற்சிக்கிறேன். நன்றி. ❤️" (in Tamil). Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  17. ^ Wan Muthiah; Junaid Ibrahim (15 April 2024). "Leaving none on the sidelines". Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  18. ^ "Thinaah honoured to receive award from Selangor Sultan". The Star. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  19. ^ Tan, Ming Wai (8 August 2022). "Pearly-Thinaah win, Malaysia surpass Commonwealth target". New Straits Times. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  20. ^ Alleyne, Gayle (19 March 2017). "BWF Launches New Events Structure". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  21. ^ Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  22. ^ "Swiss Open: Pearly-Thinaah capture title". Badminton Association of Malaysia. 7 March 2021. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  23. ^ Anil, Nicolas (30 October 2022). "French Open: Pearly-Thinaah create history after sensational final triumph". Stadium Astro. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  24. ^ Salim, Faizal (15 September 2024). "Malaysia Day inspires Pearly-Thinaah to Hong Kong Open victory". New Straits Times. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
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