Pearly-Thinaah demand golden dream from new coach Rosman

Show me your skills: New women’s doubles coach Rosman Razak giving instructions to the players during his first day at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM). — ART CHEN/The Star

PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles coach Rosman Razak is ready to meet the demands of national No. 1 Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah.

Rosman officially started his second stint as coach in the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) yesterday.

The 48-year-old was the man who combined Pearly and Thinaah in the first place and is now out to raise the world No. 7 duo’s performances further.

“Pearly-Thinaah have made their demands clear with me. They are still not satisfied with where they are now and want more,” said Rosman after overseeing his first training session at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara yesterday.

“This is good as I also have the same demands for them. So, this is two-way. We met a few times to discuss this. They are aiming high and of course they want more than what they have achieved so far.

“My main job is to prepare them for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.”

Pearly-Thinaah have set the bar high after they created history by becoming the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to reach the semi-finals of the Olympics in Paris in August.

The pair though missed out on a medal after losing in three games in the last four to China’s eventual gold medallists Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan and then they went down to Japan’s world No. 4 Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida in the bronze medal playoff.

Rosman’s task is now not just to guide Pearly-Thinaah to a medal in the Los Angeles Games but also to help them win their first medals in the World Championships and Asian Games.

The world meet will be back next year while the Asiad will be held in 2026 in Japan.

Pearly-Thinaah have been in fine form over the past few months and Rosman’s challenge will be to elevate their game.

The pair captured their first title in two years in the Hong Kong Open in September and finished runners-up in both the Korean Open and Arctic Open last month.

Rosman though expects a tougher challenge for Pearly-Thinaah next year.

“It will be more challenging for Pearly-Thinaah next year as after the Olympics, some pairs have split up and formed scratch pairings and so on,” said Rosman.

“We have to be aware of new pairs coming up but there’s no need to be scared. They just need to work hard and keep fighting.”

For this year, Pearly-Thinaah still have the Japan Masters (Nov 12-17), China Masters (Nov 19-24) and season ending World Tour Finals (Dec 11-15) left.

On whether the pair might skip the Super 500 Japan tourney to be fresher for the bigger events in China, Rosman replied: “For now, no. They will play in all three tournaments.

“Their physical condition looks alright at the moment. I will observe them over the next two days and finalise their tournament planning.

“If there are any changes, we will announce.”