PETALING JAYA: Stay positive and fight hard in every match.
This is women’s doubles coach Rosman Razak’s advice to top pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (pic) after they were handed a tough draw in the World Tour Finals starting on Wednesday in Hangzhou.
The world No. 6 pair have to face China’s world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning, Japan’s world No. 4 Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida and India’s Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand (No. 13) in Group A.
Only the top two pairs in the group will progress to the semi-finals.
Rosman acknowledged that Pearly-Thinaah will not have it easy but urged the pair to go all out to win a spot in the last four.
“This draw is expected when all the top women’s doubles pairs are here but we look into this in a positive way and look forward to fight in each match,” said Rosman.
“It’s not easy but we still try to fight for top two in the group to reach the semi-finals.
“As I said, we look into each match and it will be tough and we need to be ready for it.”
It looks like an uphill battle for Pearly-Thinaah on paper as they have an inferior head-to-head record against both Shengshu-Tan Ning and Matsuyama-Shida.
The Malaysians have lost six of their past nine meetings against the Chinese pair and have only beaten the Japanese duo once in 11 encounters.
Pearly-Thinaah have overcome Treesa-Gayatri six times in their past seven matches but the latter have improved and are high on confidence after capturing their first title in two years in the Syed Modi International last week.
Despite the huge challenge in front of them, Pearly-Thinaah can draw inspiration from their stunning run to the semi-finals in the Paris Olympics in August where they were also handed a difficult draw.
In Paris, the duo lost narrowly to China’s eventual gold medallists Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan in their opening group match but came back strongly to topple Japan’s two-time world champions Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara and Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti to reach the last eight.
Pearly-Thinaah then created history when they impressively defeated South Korea’s 2020 Tokyo Games bronze medallists Kim So-yeong-Kong Hee-yong to become the first Malaysians in the women’s doubles to reach the Olympics semi-finals.
GROUP STAGE DRAW
Men’s Singles
Malaysians unless stated
Group A: Anders Antonsen (Den), Chou Tien-chen (Tpe), Lee Zii Jia, Li Shifeng (Chn).
Group B: Shi Yuqi (Chn), Kodai Naraoka (Jpn), Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha), Jonatan Christie (Ina).
Women’s singles
Group A: Wang Zhiyi (Chn), Gregoria Mariska (Ina), Aya Ohori (Jpn), Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Tha).
Group B: Han Yue (Chn), An Se-young (Kor), Supanida Katethong (Tha), Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn).
Men’s Doubles
Group A: Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den), Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, Lee Yang-Wang Chilin (Tpe), Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan (Tpe).
Group B: He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu (Chn), Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto (Ina), Sabar Karyaman-Moh Reza (Ina), Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik.
Women’s Doubles
Group A: Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn), Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah, Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida (Jpn), Treesa Jolly-Gayathri Gopichand (Ind).
Group B: Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi (Jpn), Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (Kor), Febriana Dwipuji-Amalia Cahaya (Ina), Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan (Chn).
Mixed Doubles
Group A: Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn), Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet (Hkg), Yang Po-hsuan-Hu Ling-fang (Tpe), Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn).
Group B: Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie, Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei, Dejan Ferdinansyah-Gloria Emanuelle (Ina), Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito (Jpn).
