PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah’s confidence have not been shaken by defeat in the Arctic Open final.
Pearly-Thinaah’s hopes of capturing their second title in two months were dashed after they went down 12-21, 17-21 to China’s world No. 2 and defending champions Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning in Vantaa, Finland, on Sunday.
Despite the loss, the world No. 7 are happy with their overall performance in the tournament and are out to continue their good form in the Denmark Open, which starts today in Odense.
Pearly-Thinaah’s belief stems from the fight they showed in the last four where they edged Japan’s world No. 7 Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi 21-19, 19-21, 26-24 in a match lasting an unbelievable 102 minutes.
Their monumental efforts perhaps took its toll in the final although the Malaysians did make Shengshu-Tan Ning work hard for every point before losing in 58 minutes.
“We played two fantastic matches this week. We really enjoyed every point and rallies,” said Pearly in a post-match interview with SPOTV.
“It was really tiring but we tried to hold on and give each other the confidence to fight for every point.
“This is something positive that we hope we can bring to the next tournament. I feel really excited for the Denmark Open and we want to maintain this momentum.”
Pearly-Thinaah have been in fine form these past few months and reached three finals in their past four tournaments.
They captured their first title in two years in the Hong Kong Open and finished runners up in the Korean Open.
In the Denmark tourney, Pearly-Thinaah will be Malaysia’s sole representatives in the women’s doubles and will open their campaign against India’s world No. 21 Treesa Jolly-Gayathri Gopichand.
Based on the head-to-head records, Pearly-Thinaah will start as favourites as they have beaten the Indians five times in their past six meetings.
Another win will likely see the Malaysians face South Korea’s world No. 14 Lee Yu-lim-Shin Seung-chan in the second round.
Meanwhile, in the mixed doubles, Malaysia will be represented by Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing, Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin and Yap Roy King-Valeree Siow.
