The ongoing Malaysia Masters 2023 saw an unbelievably long 211 shot rally between Malaysia’s Pearly Tan/ Thinaah Muralitharan and Rena Miyaura/ Ayako Sakuramoto of Japan in the women’s doubles quarterfinals on Thursday.
The rally took place in the third game after both the pairs had one game each to their name with the score reading 21-17, 18-21, 16-14 favouring the Malaysian pair.
With fast paced exchanges, the rally lasted for more than three minutes as Tan dealt the final blow to the Japanese pair with her drop shot as Sakuramoto failed to read the shot.
The Malaysian pair won the game 21-17, 18-21, 21-19.
“Winning the rally felt like winning the match. I also thought that we won after surviving the rally,” said Thinaah.
“I was too excited that it was finally over because it was exhausting and we just wanted it to end fast. When it was over, I really needed a break and I threw the racket as collecting it from the ground gave me some time to rest.”
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Tan said mental strength was crucial in coming out on top of the “monumental” rally, which left Sakuramoto sprawled on the floor in exhaustion.
“We knew we were tired but the opponent was tired too,” Tan said. “In our minds we wanted to win that shot, so we just mentally prepared ourselves very well and I’m so happy we won the point.”
This rally is believed to be one of the longest in badminton history with the previous one being a 195-shot rally between South Korea’s Baek Ha-na/Lee Yu-rim and China’s Du Yue/Li Wen Mei at the 2022 Korea Open.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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