Thinaah Muralitharan

In this Tamil name, there is no surname or family name. The name Muralitharan is a patronymic, 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
Country	Malaysia
Born	(1998-01-03) 3 January 1998 (age 27) Klang, Selangor, Malaysia
Height	1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
Years active	2013–present
Handedness	Right
Coach	Rosman Razak
Women's & mixed doubles
Highest ranking	5 (WD with Pearly Tan, 31 January 2023) 282 (XD with Tee Kai Wun, 3 March 2020)
Current ranking	5 (WD with Pearly Tan, 11 March 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

• Selangor:
  • Bintang Kecemerlangan Sukan Selangor (BKS) (2023) ^[18]

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	Pearly Tan	Chloe Birch Lauren Smith	21–5, 21–8	Gold	[19]

BWF World Tour (3 titles, 5 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]

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. Tan, Ming Wai (28 May 2023). "Pearly-Thinaah go down fighting in dramatic Malaysia Masters final". New Straits Times. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
6. 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. "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. 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.

External links

• Thinaah Muralitharan at BWF .TournamentSoftware.com (archived, alternate link )
• Thinaah Muralitharan at BWF Badminton.com
• Thinaah Muralitharan at Olympics.com
• Thinaah Muralitharan at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics