Thinaah Muralitharan

In this Tamil name, there is no surname or family name. The name Muralitharan is a patronym, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Thinaah.

Thinaah Muralitharan
தீனா முரளிதரன்
Thinaah at the 2022 Commonwealth Games medal ceremony.
Personal information
CountryMalaysia
Born (1998-01-03) 3 January 1998
Klang, Selangor, Malaysia
Height1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
Years active2013–present
HandednessRight
CoachRosman Razak
Women's & mixed doubles
Highest ranking3 (WD with Pearly Tan, 10 June 2025)
282 (XD with Tee Kai Wun, 3 March 2020)
Current ranking3 (WD with Pearly Tan, 10 June 2025)
Medal record
Women's badminton
Representing  Malaysia
Sudirman Cup
2021 Vantaa Mixed team
2023 Suzhou Mixed team
Commonwealth Games
2022 Birmingham Women's doubles
2022 Birmingham Mixed team
Asia Team Championships
2020 Manila Women's team
2022 Selangor Women's team
World Junior Championships
2016 Bilbao Mixed team
BWF profile

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]

Career

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

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

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

Honours of Malaysia

Achievements

Commonwealth Games

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 (4 titles, 6 runners-up)

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 [25]
2025 Indonesia Masters Super 500 Pearly Tan Kim Hye-jeong
Kong Hee-yong 		12–21, 21–17, 18–21 Runner-up [26]
2025 Thailand Open Super 500 Pearly Tan Jeong Na-eun
Lee Yeon-woo 		21–16, 21–17 Winner [27]
2025 Indonesia Open Super 1000 Pearly Tan Liu Shengshu
Tan Ning 		25–23, 12–21, 19–21 Runner-up [28]

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

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

  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.
  25. ^ "Final loss in Arctic Open won't disrupt Pearly-Thinaah's momentum in Odense". thestar.com.my. Star Media Group Berhad. 15 October 2024. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
  26. ^ "Pearly-Thinaah terlepas gelaran Indonesia Masters". sinarharian.com.my (in Malay). Sinar Karangkraf Sdn. Bhd. 26 January 2025. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
  27. ^ Boopathy, K. M. (18 May 2025). "Pearly-Thinaah crowned Thailand Open champions | New Straits Times". NST Online. New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  28. ^ "Pearly-Thinaah fall short in Indonesia Open final against top-ranked Chinese pair". Malay Mail. 8 June 2025.
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