211 shots. Three minutes of play time in a match that lasted for 90 minutes.
The Malaysian duo of Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah were involved in a nail biting, marathon style rally during their Malaysia Masters game against Japan’s Rena Miyaura-Ayako Sakuramoto in the second round. A match they would win 21-17, 18-21, 21-19 to seal a quarterfinals berth.
The rally is believed to be the longest in Badminton history with the previous official record believed to be a 195-shot rally which lasted for more than three minutes during the 2022 Korea Open between South Korea’s Baek Ha-na-Lee Yu-rim and China’s Du Yue-Li Wen Mei.
Sit back, relax and enjoy this monumental rally 🤯🏸!@HSBC_Sport#HSBCbadminton #BWFWorldTour #MalaysiaMasters2023 pic.twitter.com/o0Anh10ACG
— BWF (@bwfmedia) May 25, 2023
It would begin when the Malaysians were leading 16-14 in the third set.
“We are just relieved this match is over, we want to go back now, have a good rest and come back tomorrow for another tough match,” Pearly said in the post match interview.
On what kept them going in the rally, Thinaah added: “We were running out of steam, but we kept going because we could see our opponents tiring as well. I threw my racquet in the air because it felt like we had won a match.”