"Without You, I Wouldn't Be Here" — Thinaah Pens Emotional Post For Pearly
"We had each other throughout the games, throughout every single rally."
By Sadho Ram — 05 Aug 2024, 12:16 PM
National women doubles shuttler Thinaah Muralitharan has penned an emotional post on Instagram, expressing her gratitude for her on-court partner Pearly Tan Koong Le
"Pearly, without you, I wouldn't be here on the biggest stage of every athlete's dream: the Olympic Games," the 26-year-old wrote in her post yesterday, 4 August, a day after the pair missed out on Olympic bronze.
In the lengthy post, which has since garnered over 83,000 likes, Thinaah recounted how Pearly had struggled with sickness and injuries and they had misunderstandings during their training camp.
However, once they arrived at the Olympic village, the pair was acting as "one".
"We only trained together for [10 days] before flying to France to begin our training camp. I kept telling myself to stay strong even though there were times I felt helpless training without you. Even during the camp, we had misunderstandings and I just wanted to be done with the Olympics and go back home.
"But once we arrived at the village, I felt different and the feeling was indescribable. We did have awkward moments but once the competition started, we were ONE. We had each other throughout the games, throughout every single rally. There was not one point that I didn't feel motivated," she wrote.
Thinaah Muralitharan and Pearly Tan react after losing the bronze medal match against Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida of Japan.
Image via Ann Wang/ReutersWhile the pair had been struggling for the past year, the world No. 12 were incredible in their debut Olympics in Paris, becoming the first women's doubles duo from Malaysia to reach the Olympics semi-finals
"Who would have imagined that the both of us could reach the semifinals of the Olympics after seeing we were grouped in the 'Group of death'. To be playing till the last day of the Games," she wrote.
The pair went down fighting against Japan's Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida, who are ranked world No. 4.
According to Thinaah, while going home without an Olympic medal is very disappointing, the pair must take pride in their effort for reaching this far and be there for each other always.
"Point by point, we made it ! We made it this far, chaaa.
"I know going home without a medal is very disappointing but we also have to praise ourselves because not everyone will be there during our worst moments but we will always have each other.
"Only we know what we went through. Only we experienced those feelings. So I wanna take this time to thank you for being there for me all this time, sorry for disappointing you at times," she said.
"I don't know what the future holds and I don't know what will happen in the coming four years till the next Olympics but what I know is now I'm grateful and happy that I can share this precious moment with you," Thinaah added.
She ended her post with what she called their constant reminder
"The things we kept reminding each other throughout the games:
"'Enjoy every single rally in the court, appreciate every second in court'. 球不落地，就不放弃 [Don't give up until the ball hits the ground]. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much, Pearly," she said.
Meanwhile, Pearly replied to Thinaah's post, expressing her admiration and love for her teammate
