KUALA LUMPUR: National top women's pair Pearly Tan- M. Thinaah showed nerves of steel as they clinched a crucial win over Indonesia's Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti to charge into the Paris Olympic quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Knowing that only a win would suffice, the world No. 13 Pearly-Thinaah delivered an inspiring display to upstage their world No. 9 rivals 21-18, 21-9, ensuring they finished the highly-competitive Group A campaign as runners-up with two wins.
A relieved Thinaah said the win was a huge weight lifted off the pair's shoulders, especially after going through a stressful period over the last 24 hours.
"When we went to the court, we were a bit nervous because it was a must-win for us. We've been quite stressed since yesterday (Monday) because we were thinking about today's (Tuesday) game," said Thinaah.
"The beginning was tough for us; we threw away points that we shouldn't have. But after that, we were able to slowly regain our momentum and confidence."
Thinaah admitted that she and Pearly had never encountered a match as tense as this one.
"As we knew the result from the earlier match, bringing this level of pressure to the court was a whole different feeling from what we've encountered," added Thinaah.
"It gave us a new feeling and a whole new experience for both of us."
Pearly thanked Thinaah for helping her stay composed throughout the match.
"For this match, we had to play not only against our opponents but ourselves too. As this was a must-win match, it was tough for us mentally because we had to be more consistent and calmer for the entire match.
"I was quite nervous; the pressure was immense as I really wanted to win the match. I'm glad that Thinaah has been trying to calm me down and support me. Happy to overcome the challenges today, I'm really happy."
China's top seeds Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan had earlier done Pearly-Thinaah a massive favour by defeating Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara.
Pearly-Thinaah opened their campaign with a 21-17, 22-20 defeat to Qing Chen-Yi Fan, but they came back on the brink of elimination by upstaging two-time world champions Matsumoto-Nagahara 18-21, 21-15, 21-16.
By making it to the last eight, Pearly-Thinaah have emulated Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei's feat at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016.