Fans of the badminton scene would be very familiar by now with Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan. The well-known duo made their mark when they nabbed gold during the 2022 Commonwealth Games before they made history by scoring gold in the recent French Open, a first for the Malaysian women’s doubles team.
The two have fought hard and been acknowledged by other gold medallists. However, not much is known about Thinaah herself. Well, Thinaah’s mom, Dr. Parimala Devi, was recently interviewed by China Press. During said interview, she shed more light on her daughter and shared Thinaah’s journey in climbing to the top!
Like many of her peers, Thinaah started badminton young. Her mom explained she often spent her childhood playing the sport with her father, S. Muralitharan, and older brother. Her younger sister, Selinaah, joined them later and too eventually became a shuttler for the Selangor team.
“At first, (Thinaah) thought it was fun and (treated it as) play,” Dr. Parimala shared. “(But), she started taking (the sport) seriously after winning (her) school’s championship at the age of eight.” Thinaah then continued collecting wins under her belt, dominating at state and country level.
By the age of 12, she had already won the MSSM (Majlis Sukan Sekolah Malaysia) badminton tourney. So, it was no surprise when she joined the Bukit Jalil Sport School in her secondary years. Unfortunately, Thinaah encountered a slight problem there.
“She told my husband that she had problems communicating (with her teammates) and said it was difficult to (get along) with them during practice,” Dr. Parimala recalled. Thinaah’s frustration was understandable. As the majority of her teammates were Chinese, they often used Mandarin, which Thinaah could neither understand nor speak.
Her parents were quick to help Thinaah deal with the problem. “My husband (told) her to learn one sentence a day from (that day) onwards,” Dr. Parimala said. “Whether it was one sentence or one character, (if she) learned (a little) everyday, then (after) a year, (it would) add up and (she would be able to) understand more.”
Well, it certainly paid off. Thinaah soon mastered the language and has added it to her repertoire, on top of speaking English, Malay and Tamil. Still, Thinaah’s communication problem wasn’t the only issue that left her frustrated.
“She started out in the women’s singles. When she (struggled) there, she told us she might not be able to go further if she continued to play in the women’s singles (category),” Dr. Parimala stated. However, Thinaah did have her parents backing her decision.
“We’ve always supported her, encouraged her and let her follow her heart,” her mother said fondly. “In my eyes, my daughter is optimistic, positive and gets along well with everyone. She has always been independent and more mature than girls her age. Our family has always been proud of her.”
With support from her family, much determination and plenty of hard work, Thinaah’s recent string of successes have been well deserved. We hope Thinaah continues to do her best in future tournaments and wish her well as she climbs even higher.
Source: China Press
