In fine form: Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah overcame India’s Treesa Jolly-Gayathri Gopichand in the second round. — Badminton Photo
ONE pair’s misfortune could be another’s gain.
National pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah could profit from the withdrawal of home pair and second seeds Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota from the World Championships in Tokyo.
The world No. 2 were forced to concede a walkover in the second round against Singapore’s Jin Yujia-Crystal Wong yesterday after Fukushima suffered a left calf muscle injury.
Fukushima-Hirota’s withdrawal will be a big blow to the home nation’s hopes but Pearly-Thinaah who had been drawn in the same half as the pair could benefit from their absence provided they can navigate a treacherous pathway to the semi-finals.
Yesterday, the Malaysians overcame India’s Treesa Jolly-Gayathri Gopichand 21-8, 21-17 in the second round.
Standing in their way next is Fukushima-Hirota’s compatriots – world No. 5 Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida.
Pearly-Thinaah have a tough task on their hands against Matsuyama-Shida as they have never beaten them before in five meetings.
The Malaysians though are in fine form after capturing gold in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and will be looking to claim their first upset win over the Japanese duo.
“We feel happy about our performance against the Indian pair but we feel there is still room for improvement.
‘‘We will rest well and prepare for our next match. We don’t want to think too much about our opponents but just want to focus on each game give our all,” said Thinaah.
It was the end of the road though for another national pair, Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing who found another Korean pair, world No. 10 Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong too hot to handle and went down 13-21, 12-21.
It was Anna-Mei Xing second straight loss to the Koreans after coming off second best to them in the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Masters last month.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s challenge had ended in the women’s singles after Soniia Cheah went down fighting 17-21, 15-21 to fourth seed Chen Yufei of China.
