On to the next round: Pearly Tan (left) and M. Thinaah beat Lee Yu-lim-Shin Seung-chan of South Korea 21-14, 20-22, 21-18.
PETALING JAYA: Shuttler M. Thinaah believes in being positive and patient.
And these were the attributes that saw Thinaah making a successful return with Pearly Tan in the Japan Masters in Kumamoto yesterday.
The duo beat Lee Yu-lim-Shin Seung-chan of South Korea 21-14, 20-22, 21-18 and are likely to play against Rui Hirokami-Yuna Kato of Japan next.
It was their first tournament since reaching the quarter-finals of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in early October.
They had to skip all the tournaments in Europe last month to give time for Pearly to heal from her back problem.
Thinaah is just happy to be back on court with her buddy.
“We’ve not played for a month but we are so excited to be back. Pearly is in good shape,” said Thinaah.
It’s hard for a player when her partner gets injured but Thinaah said it was never the case with them.
“The waiting is hard but Pearly and I kept being positive and patient. While waiting for Pearly to recover, I just make sure that I do my part and improve the things that I need to improve and give the space for Pearly to recover and return.
On the match yesterday, Thinaah said: “Feels good to be back on court but not too happy with the performance, we will be better for the next match.”
It was over for Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien as they went down 17-21, 11-21 to Japan’s Rina Miyaura-Ayako Sakuramoto in the first round.
Today, Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing will begin their campaign when they take on Sayaka Hobara-Yui Suizu of Japan in the first round.
In an all-Malaysian men’s doubles opening match, seniors Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi were in sizzling form as they defeated younger compatriot Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun 21-16, 21-7 to get off to a blistering start.
They will play the winners of the match between Chen Boyang-Liu Yi of China and Thailand’s Pharanyu-Kaosamaang-Worrapol Thongsa-nga next.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi are in the same quarter with top seeds and Asian Games champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty but the Indians fell to a shock 21-16, 18-21, 16-21 defeat to Taiwanese pair Lu Ching-yao-Yang Po-han.
In the men’s singles, Leong Jun Hao failed to clear the qualifying tournament after losing to Takuma Obayashi of Japan 23-21, 21-16 in the second round. Earlier, in the first round, he had beaten Takeru Kai of Australia 21-7, 21-3.
(Selected; Malaysians unless stated)Men’s doubles: Lu Ching-yao-Yang Po-han (Tpe) bt Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) 16-21, 21-18, 21-16; Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi bt Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun21-16, 21-7; Akira Koga-Taichi Saito (Jpn) bt Muhammad Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana (Ina) 21-18, 21-16; Pramudya Kusumawardana-Yeremia Rambitan (Ina) bt Ben Lane-Sean Vendy (Eng) 16-21, 21-19, 21-17; Kenya Mitsuhashi-Hiroki Okamura (Jpn) bt Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) 21-16,21-14; Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) bt Keiichiro Matsui-Yoshinori Takeuchi (Jpn) 21-13, 21-12; He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu (Chn) bt Chiu Hsiang-chieh-Yang Ming-tse (Tpe) 21-19, 21-16; Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Leo Rolly Carnando-Daniel Marthin (Ina) 21-14, 10-21, 21-18; Tan Qiang-Zhou Haodong (Chn) bt Chang Ko-chi-Po Li-wei (Tpe) 21-18, 21-14; Mark Lamsfuss-Marvin Seidel (Ger) bt Ayato Endo-Yuta Takei (Jpn) 21-17, 19-21, 21-7.
Women’s doubles:
Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah bt Lee Yu-lim-Shin Seung-chan (Kor) 21-14, 20-22, 21-18; Rina Miyaura-Ayako Sakuramoto (Jpn) bt Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien 21-17, 21-11.
RESULTS
