On guard: Pearly Tan- M. Thinaah will face Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Ramadhanti in the second round today.
KUALA LUMPUR: Women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah’s march into the All-England second round offered a glimmer of hope for Malaysia amid the early exits of several national shuttlers from the prestigious tournament.
Despite their victory, the women’s doubles pair are keeping their feet on the ground, knowing there is still much to improve and a long journey ahead.
The fifth-seeded duo was given a stern test by Taiwan’s Chang Ching-hui-Yang Ching-tun at Utilita Arena in Birmingham on Wednesday but showed resilience to clinch a 19-21, 21-15, 21-13 win.
“We’re happy to progress, but not entirely satisfied with our performance. We know we can do better.
For now, we’ll review the match with our coaches and partner, then focus on recovery for the next round,” said Thinaah in an interview with the Badminton World Federation.
Pearly credited their improvement to the guidance of coach Rosman Razak and hopes they can reach their peak performance in the tournament.
Last year, Pearly-Thinaah came close to a semi-final breakthrough but saw their campaign end in the quarter-finals against Japan’s Rena Miyaura-Ayako Sakamoto.
They will face will face Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Ramadhanti in the second round today.
“I think there have been a lot of ups and downs, but we are really focused on regaining our momentum. We communicated a lot with each other and with the coaches, which is crucial for our gameplay and strategy. Like Thinaah said, we hope to have more discussions with the coaches moving forward,” said Pearly.
Among those who have already fallen early in the tournament are 2024 finalists Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia, and mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei.
Tang Jie-Ee Wei once again struggled against world No. 110 duo Rehan Kusharjanto-Gloria Widjaja of Indonesia.
They fell 21-18, 20-22, 11-21, marking their second consecutive defeat to the Indonesian pair within a week following their second-round exit at the Orleans Masters in Paris.
Despite struggling to overcome the Indonesian pair, they admitted that their own dip in form was also a key factor in their early exit from the tournament.
“The opponent did better than us. We tried to figure it out, but maybe we were not consistent enough,” said Tang Jie.
