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
CoachLee Meng Yean
Hoon Thien How
Women's & mixed doubles
Highest ranking5 (WD with Pearly Tan 31 January 2023)
282 (XD with Tee Kai Wun 3 March 2020)
Current ranking12 (WD with Pearly Tan 2 January 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

Thinaah Muralitharan BKS (born 3 January 1998) is a Malaysian badminton player who entered the national team in 2013.[1] She was the gold medalists in the women's doubles and mixed team event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.[2][3]

Career

In 2021, Thinaah with her partner Pearly Tan, clinched their first BWF World Tour title in the Swiss Open.[4]

In 2022, Thinaah and Tan claimed the French Open title, becomes the first ever Malaysian women's doubles to achieve this feat.[5]

Personal life

Thinaah is the second child of S. Muralitharan, an engineer and Parimala Devi, a medical doctor.[6][7] She has an older brother and a younger sister, Selinaah Muralitharan, who is a former Selangor state shuttler.[6] She is fluent in four languages, namely Tamil (mother tongue), Bahasa Malaysia (national language), English and Mandarin, in which she picked up from her ethnic Chinese friends whilst she was studying at the Bukit Jalil Sports School.[8][9] Since May 2020, Thinaah is pursuing a Bachelor of Education in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) at Open University Malaysia.[10]

Achievements

Commonwealth Games

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 		Malaysia Pearly Tan England Chloe Birch
England Lauren Smith 		21–5, 21–8 Gold Gold [2]

BWF World Tour (2 titles, 2 runners-up)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[11] 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.[12]

Women's doubles

Year Tournament Level Partner Opponent Score Result Ref
2021 Swiss Open Super 300 Malaysia Pearly Tan Bulgaria Gabriela Stoeva
Bulgaria Stefani Stoeva 		21–19, 21–12 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner [4]
2022 French Open Super 750 Malaysia Pearly Tan Japan Mayu Matsumoto
Japan Wakana Nagahara 		21–19, 18–21, 21–15 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner [5]
2023 Malaysia Masters Super 500 Malaysia Pearly Tan South Korea Baek Ha-na
South Korea Lee So-hee 		20–22, 21–8, 17–21 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
2023 Hong Kong Open Super 500 Malaysia Pearly Tan Indonesia Apriyani Rahayu
Indonesia Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti 		21–14, 22–24, 9–21 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up [13]

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

Women's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
2018 Iran Fajr International Malaysia Lee Ying Ying 11–8, 11–6, 9–11, 11–9 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner
2018 Dutch International Denmark Julie Dawall Jakobsen 21–17, 15–21, 11–21 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up

Women's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result
2018 Malaysia International Malaysia Payee Lim Peiy Yee Chinese Taipei Cheng Yu-chieh
Chinese Taipei Chung Kan-yu 		21–17, 21–14 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner
2019 Malaysia International Malaysia Pearly Tan Indonesia Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma
Indonesia Ribka Sugiarto 		21–16, 11–21, 21–18 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner
2019 Sydney International Malaysia Pearly Tan Chinese Taipei Cheng Yu-chieh
Chinese Taipei Tseng Yu-chi 		17–21, 21–17, 13–21 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
2019 India International Malaysia Pearly Tan Malaysia Teoh Mei Xing
Malaysia Yap Ling 		21–18, 21–14 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner
2019 Bangladesh International Malaysia Pearly Tan India K. Maneesha
India Rutaparna Panda 		22–20, 21–19 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner
  BWF International Challenge tournament
  BWF International Series tournament

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]

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

References

  1. ^ "Thinaah Muralitharan". Badminton Association of Malaysia. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b 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.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ a b "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.
  5. ^ a b 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.
  6. ^ a b 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.
  7. ^ "Thinaah harap Deepavali bawa tuah". Stadium Astro (in Malay). 18 October 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  8. ^ Peter, Fabian (7 May 2020). "Rising badminton stars good in 4 languages". New Straits Times. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  9. ^ Anil, Nicolas (5 June 2021). "Thinaah credits partnership success with Pearly to multilingual skill". Stadium Astro. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  10. ^ Bernama (28 February 2024). "OUM scholarship fuels Thinaah's French Open bid". The Sun Daily. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  13. ^ Anil, Nicolas (17 September 2023). "Hong Kong Open: Pearly-Thinaah finish as runners-up". Stadium Astro. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  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. ^ "Thinaah honoured to receive award from Selangor Sultan". The Star. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.

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