Mountain to climb: Pearly-Thinaah have lost both their previous meetings with Kim Hye-jeong - Kong Hee-yong.
PETALING JAYA: National doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky has called on shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah to end their winless run against South Korea’s Kim Hye-jeong-Kong Hee-yong in the Asian Championships from April 8-13 in Ningbo, China.
Pearly-Thinaah have been drawn against bogey pair Hye-jeong-Hee-yong in a heavyweight clash in the women’s doubles first round.
The world No. 5 duo lost both their previous meetings with their world No. 10 opponents in the Indian Open semi-finals and Indonesian Masters final in January and face a daunting challenge to overcome the high flying Koreans.
Rexy acknowledged the difficult task ahead but has urged his charges to find a way past Hye-jeong-Hee-yong this time.
“It’s a tough draw for Pearly-Thinaah but they must overcome this pair to boost their confidence ahead of the next tournaments,” said Rexy.
Hye-jeong-Hee-yong only combined last November after splitting up with their previous partners Jeong Na-eun and Kim So-yeong respectively but have clicked quickly, capturing the Korean Masters, Indonesian Masters and Orleans Masters titles and finishing runners-up in the Indian Open.
If Pearly-Thinaah can pull off their first win over the Koreans, they will likely have another tough task against China’s Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu in the second round.
Shuxian, who previously combined with Jia Yifan, will be playing with Zheng Yu for the first time since the Indonesian Open last June.
Meanwhile, Yifan, who captured gold in the Paris Olympics last August with Chen Qingchen, will be reunited with the latter in the tournament.
Pearly-Thinaah’s teammates Teoh Mei Xing-Go Pei Kee could take on Qingchen-Yifan in the second round.
Before that, Mei Xing-Pei Kee, who have done well to move up to No. 26 in the latest world rankings, have a difficult challenge against Indonesia’s world No. 8 Febriana Dwipuji-Amalia Cahaya in the opening round.
The other Malaysians in the fray in the women’s doubles are qualifiers Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting and Lee Zhi Qing-Sue Xin Tio.
