PETALING JAYA: It sounds tricky but doubles shuttler Pearly Tan is out to use the aces in her pack as she and her partner M. Thinaah prepare for the Paris Olympics next month.
Pearly feels that she and Thinaah have not fully utilised their advantage of executing deceptive shots in previous competitions.
“We feel that for some time, we have not been playing like ourselves. We have been following our opponents’ game too much. We always say we want to be more consistent but we forget that our advantage is our tricky shots.
“So, we have been discussing with our coach and we are trying our tricky shots more and trying to reduce mistakes and be ourselves on court.”
Pearly-Thinaah narrowly edged Taiwan’s world No. 42 Sung Shuo-yun-Yu Chien-hui 21-19, 22-20 at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta yesterday to book their spot in the second round.
World No. 13 Pearly-Thinaah admitted that they were still trying to find their best form.
“We made too many simple mistakes today (yesterday) but we kept supporting each other,” said Thinaah in a post-match interview with SPOTV.
“We are trying to get back our game play and rhythm. For a start, this is okay for us.”
Pearly-Thinaah have been struggling for consistency this year and are keen to do better ahead of the Paris Olympics next month.
The pair’s best result so far this year was a semi-final finish in the Malaysian Masters last month. The Indonesian tourney will be Pearly-Thinaah’s last competitive outing before the Olympics.
“So, now we want to find ourselves back and do better. There is definitely pressure on us ahead of the Olympics but we don’t want any distractions and just want to focus on ourselves.”
Pearly-Thinaah face a tougher hurdle next against world No. 9 homesters Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti tomorrow.
The Indonesians hold a slight advantage based on the head-to-head records as they have beaten Pearly-Thinaah three times in their past five meetings including in the Hong Kong Open final last year.
Meanwhile, in the mixed doubles, it was disappointment for both Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei and Malaysian Masters winners Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie, who suffered early exits.
World No. 9 Tang Jie-Ee Wei lost out 13-21, 15-21 to South Korea’s reigning world champions Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yu-jung while Soon Huat-Shevon went down fighting 21-16, 17-21, 10-21 to Hong Kong’s Reginald Lee-Ng Tsz Yau.
