Pearly Tan Koong Le (; born 14 March 2000) is a Malaysian

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

player. At the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

, Tan and

Thinaah Muralitharan Thinaah Muralitharan (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 wo ...

became the first ever Malaysian semi-finalists in the women's doubles event at the Olympic Games.

Career

2018

In July, Tan and Toh Ee Wei became silver medalists in the girls' doubles events at the

Badminton Asia Junior Championships The Badminton Asia Junior Championships is a tournament organized by the Badminton Asia governing body to crown the best junior badminton players (under-19) in Asia. Championships (U–19) Location of the Asia Junior Championships (U–19) The t ...

. Following a win at the Malaysia International Junior Open, Tan and Toh continued their great form at the World Junior Championships and clinched silver. Tan also won all of her matches in the Mixed Team event both with Toh and as a scratch pairing with Goh Jin Wei.

2019

After brief partnerships with Teoh Mei Xing and Lim Chiew Sin, Tan went on to win her maiden senior title at the 2019 Malaysia International Series with

2021

Tan and Muralitharan clinched their first BWF World Tour title at the Swiss Open, defeating teammates and second seeds

Chow Mei Kuan Chow Mei Kuan (; born 23 December 1994) is a Malaysian retired badminton player. She started playing badminton at the age of 7 in her primary school. Chow made a debut in the international senior tournament in 2012. She won gold medals at the ...

and

Lee Meng Yean Lee Meng Yean (born 30 March 1994) is a Malaysian badminton player. Together with Chow Mei Kuan, she won the 2018 Syed Modi International and achieved a career-high ranking of 10 in women's doubles. Career She was the 2011 Asian Junior Ba ...

in the semi-finals, and third seeds

Gabriela Stoeva Gabriela Stoeva (; born 15 July 1994) is a Bulgarian badminton player specializing in doubles. Her current partner is her younger sister, Stefani Stoeva. The pair is the four-time European Champion and two-time European Games gold medalist as wel ...

and

Stefani Stoeva Stefani Stoeva (; born 23 September 1995) is a Bulgarian badminton player specializing in doubles. Her current partner is her older sister, Gabriela Stoeva. They competed at the 2016, 2020 and the 2024 Summer Olympics. The duo together have won ...

in the finals as an unseeded pair.

2022

In August, Tan and Muralitharan became gold medalists in the women's doubles and mixed team event at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

. In October, Tan and Muralitharan claimed the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

title, becoming the first ever Malaysian women's doubles pair to achieve this feat.

2023

In April, Tan set a new world record for the fastest women's badminton smash at 438 kilometers per hour at the Yonex Tokyo Factory. She is the first badminton player to hold that world record. In May, Tan and Muralitharan won all of their games at the

Sudirman Cup The Sudirman Cup is an international badminton mixed team competition contested by member countries of the Badminton World Federation, the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every two years since the inaugural tourn ...

and managed a second place finish at the

Malaysia Masters The Malaysia Masters () is an annual badminton tournament held in Malaysia that began in 2009. The total prize money is currently US$475,000. Until 2017, the tournament was part of the Grand Prix Gold series. BWF categorised Malaysia Masters ...

, losing to Baek Ha-na and

Lee So-hee Lee So-hee (; ; born 14 June 1994) is a South Korean badminton player. She won the women's doubles title at the 2017 All England Open tournament. She also helped the Korean national team to win the world team championships at the 2017 Sudirm ...

in the finals. At the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, Tan and Muralitharan defeated fourth seeds and two-time former champions

Mayu Matsumoto is a Japanese badminton player. Born in Hokkaido, she graduated from Shiritsu Towanomorisanai High School. She was part of the Hokuto Bank team. Matsumoto was awarded as the 2018 Most Improved Player of the Year by the BWF together with her pa ...

and

Wakana Nagahara is a Japanese badminton player. She is a two-time world champion in the women's doubles. Nagahara attended Aomori Yamada High School, and was part of the Japanese national junior team that won the bronze medals at the 2013, 2014 Asian and 2014 ...

in the third round, but fell to sixth seeds

Zhang Shuxian Zhang Shuxian ( zh, 张殊贤; ''Zhāng Shūxián''; born 2 January 2000) is a Chinese badminton player. Career Early career Zhang attended Luzhou Zilu Road School. Later, she was recommended by the city sports school to enter the Sichuan ...

and Zheng Yu in the quarter finals in a tightly contested three game match. In September, they finished second at the Hong Kong Open, losing to Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti in the finals.

2024

Tan and Muralitharan became the first ever Malaysian women's doubles pair to advance to the semi-finals of an Olympic Games at the

2024 Paris Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

. Ranked 13th in the world at the time, they were drawn into Group A alongside

Chen Qingchen Chen Qingchen (; born 23 June 1997) is a Chinese badminton player who specializes in doubles. She is an Olympic champion, four-time World Champion, two-time Asian Games gold medalist, and two-time Asian Champion. With partner Jia Yifan, Che ...

and Jia Yifan from China,

and

from Japan, and Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti from Indonesia, ranked 1st, 6th, and 9th in the world respectively. Having successfully advanced from the group stage with a 2–1 record, they defeated then ranked 7th in the world

Kim So-yeong Kim So-yeong (; born 9 July 1992) is a South Korean badminton player. Kim, who attended the University of Incheon, was the triple crowns at the 2013 Summer Universiade, by winning the gold medals in the women's doubles, mixed doubles and team ...

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. In September, they finished second at the Korea Open, losing to Jeong Na-eun and Kim Hye-jeong in the finals. They won their first Super 500 level title at the Hong Kong Open, defeating Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning in the finals in straight sets. In October, they finished second at the Arctic Open, losing to Liu and Tan in the finals.

Personal life

Tan was born in

Alor Setar Alor Setar ( Kedah Malay: ) is the state capital of Kedah, Malaysia. It is the second-largest city in the state after Sungai Petani and one of the most-important cities on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It is home to the third-tallest ...

, Kedah to Tan Chai Ling and badminton coach Tan Seng Hoe. Her father runs the Alor Setar Racquet Club (ASRC), which is also the childhood club of national shuttlers

Lee Zii Jia Lee Zii Jia ( zh, s=李梓嘉, poj=Lí Chú-ka, p=Lǐ Zǐjiā, born 29 March 1998) is a Malaysian badminton player. He is a bronze medalist at the Olympic Games, Asian champion and All England champion. He is best known for his smash, especi ...

and Jacky Kok.

Awards and recognition

Order

* Kedah: ** Companion of the Ahli Cemerlang Semangat Jerai Kedah (ASK) (2022)

Awards

Achievements

Commonwealth Games

''Women's doubles''

World Junior Championships

''Girls' doubles''

Asian Junior Championships

''Girls' doubles''

BWF World Tour (4 titles, 6 runners-up)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation, aka BWF, is the international governing body for the sport of badminton approved by the International Olympic Committee. It was founded on 5 July 1934 as the International Badminton Federation with nine member ...

(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. ''Women's doubles''

BWF International Challenge/Series (3 titles, 3 runners-up)

''Women's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles'' :

BWF International Challenge The BWF International Challenge is a grade 3 and level 1 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Series (level 2) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF International Series The BWF International Series is a grade 3 and level 2 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament

References

External links

* * *
Pearly Tan
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tan, Pearly Living people 2000 births Badminton players from Kedah Malaysian sportspeople of Chinese descent Malaysian female badminton players Badminton players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players for Malaysia Badminton players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Malaysia Commonwealth Games gold medallists in badminton Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Badminton players at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Malaysia 21st-century Malaysian sportswomen