The T&T duo (Tan and Thinaah) delivered a special gift for their country on the eve of Malaysia Day, an occasion celebrated to commemorate the establishment of the federation in 1963.

By beating second seeds Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning 21-14 21-14 in the LI-NING Hong Kong Open 2024 final, Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan also became the first Malaysian women’s doubles champions in the competition’s 42-year history.

Muralitharan was relieved the duo fondly known as ‘T&T’ by fans were able to make amends after missing out on the Korea Open title during the National Day celebrations in Malaysia a fortnight ago.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t get the title in Korea but I think God gave us another opportunity so we are really happy we won,” said the 26-year-old. “It’s a gift for our country. Happy Malaysia Day, and thank you to all the fans back home for supporting us. This win is a big confidence-booster.”

Victory ended the world No.8s two-year drought, and a four-match losing streak to their Olympic silver-winning opponents. Tan and Muralitharan have not tasted glory since topping the French Open podium in October 2022. It also made up for the disappointment of losing last year’s final to Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti.

The eagerness to get job done was almost telling – they squandered five match points before Liu’s service hit the net to end the contest.

“We both wanted to quickly finish the match, that’s why we made some simple mistakes we shouldn’t have. We will learn from this and be more careful the next time,” promised Muralitharan.

Tan is already looking ahead to the next assignment, in Changzhou next week, at the Super 1000 China Open.

“We want to be more consistent, we hope we can keep this momentum going,” said the 24-year-old.

Following their triumph at Hong Kong Coliseum, a Super 1000 title is the only one missing from Tan/Muralitharan’s HSBC BWF World Tour collection. Other than their 750 French crown, they also won the Super 300 Swiss Open in 2021.