Pearly-Thinaah join long list of first round knockouts in Malaysian Open

Out they go: M. Thinaah- Pearly Tan in action during the first round of the Malaysian Open. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: The hopes of the national badminton team dimmed further in the Malaysian Open after top women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah joined the long list of local players' casualty list with a disappointing exit on Tuesday (Jan 7).

Despite being the third seeds in the tournament, Pearly and Thinaah struggled to find their rhythm against the newly paired Indonesian duo Siti Fadia Ramadhanti-Lanny Tria at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil

After 63 minutes of intense battle, Pearly-Thinaah’s nightmare came true as they were defeated 21-19, 14-21, 13-21.

Go Pei Kee-Teoh Mei Xing suffered the same fate when they lost 17-21, 10-21 to China’s Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian.

The only remaining BAM women’s doubles pair for Malaysia is the young duo, Carmen Ting-Ong Xin Yee, who will make their appearance on Wednesday against Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun-Yu Chien-hui.

Earlier in the day, the other players who lost their opening matches were Leong Jun Hao (men's singles); Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (men's doubles); Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien, Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing (mixed doubles).