Motivators: Malaysia’s Pearly Tan (right) and M. Thinaah hope to play an inspirational role in the Asian Mixed Team Championship in Dubai.
PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Pearly Tan intends to turn pressure into motivation as she bids for success in the Asian Mixed Team Championship starting in Dubai on April 14.
The mixed team event, where Malaysia are targeting a semi-final spot, will see Pearly playing a key role with M. Thinaah to help them achieve their objective as they had done at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games last year.
In Birmingham, Pearly-Thinaah played a significant role in helping Malaysia upstage top seeds India to win the mixed team gold.
Pearly believes with the team bond and the willingness to fight for every point, Malaysia can do well in Dubai although the competition will be stiff.
“In the team event we play as one and everyone is behind you. So I can change the pressure to motivation ... I really enjoy it,” said Pearly.
“It brings the best out of me. Even when we are not playing (on the bench), I know how good it feels when we cheer our teammates to do well and win that point.
“We need to believe in each other and play as one and back each other up.
“As for Thinaah and I , we have looked at the aspects we need to improve on in training and we are in a better condition.”
World No. 5 Pearly-Thinaah will be joined by Teoh Mei Xing-Go Pei Kee in the women’s doubles.
Pearly was also open to the idea of playing as a scratch pair and is ready to partner others due to team strategy.
“We have played in a lot of team events and we are ready to play based on the coach’s decision. We do play with others during training and if needed (scratch pairing), it is not a problem,” added Pearly.
Malaysia are in Group B with India, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates and should have no problems reaching the quarter-finals.
Victory against India will help them avoid big guns Indonesia, China, Japan and South Korea in the last eight.
