M. Thinaah and Pearly Tan. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah’s early exit in the Malaysian Open was due to lack of vitality.
National coaching director Rexy Mainaky shared that the world No. 6 pair were not at their best physically in the season opener which led to them going down 21-19, 14-21, 13-21 to Indonesia’s Siti Fadia Ramadhanti-Lanny Tria in the first round on Tuesday at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil.
"Honestly, Pearly-Thinaah did not look fresh before their first round match," said Rexy.
"We (coaches) are seeing them every day and we know when they can perform well by how they are physically or we can judge by their facial expressions or emotions.
"After coming back from the World Tour Finals last month, we had to handle their training load differently compared to other players.
"We can’t overload them or push them too much and at the same time we can’t give them very light training too
"We have to adjust their training day to day based on their condition. They were not fully fresh but they really wanted to perform well. It just did not work out for them though.
"They started slowly and they entered their opponents’ game and ended up playing like how the Indonesians wanted," added Rexy.
Rexy also believes that Pearly-Thinaah need more time to adjust to coach Rosman Razak’s style of play.
Rosman only replaced Hoon Thien How as the women’s doubles head coach last November.
