Still no answer: Pearly-Thinaah’s contract situation could be resolved by the end of next week.
PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah’s future in the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) may be uncertain but they continue to achieve personal milestones after rising to a career-high No. 4 in the latest world rankings.
Pearly-Thinaah have still not signed new contracts with BAM and could make a decision soon.
The duo added another feather to their caps when they moved up one rung in the rankings to become only the second Malaysian women’s doubles pair to break into the world’s top four after Wong Pei Tty-Chin Eei Hui achieved the feat in July 2010.
The retired Pei Tty-Eei Hui were world No. 1 in May 2009.
Pearly-Thinaah created history in the Paris Olympics last August when they became the first Malaysians in the women’s doubles to reach the semi-finals in the showpiece event.
The pair were also the first women’s pair from the country to capture the French Open crown, also in Paris in 2022.
Pearly-Thinaah’s latest achievement will be a boost to them as they prepare for a hectic schedule in the World Tour with the Thailand Open (May 13-18), Malaysian Masters (May 20-25), Singapore Open (May 27-June 1) and Indonesian Open (June 3-8) all lined up for them.
The pair though have yet to commit to BAM and might leave the national body and continue their careers as independent players. BAM secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh said that Pearly-Thinaah’s contract situation could be resolved by the end of next week.
“Pearly-Thinaah have not signed new contracts but the matter will likely be resolved in these two weeks,” said Kenny.
“They have many tournaments coming up, so we will give them time to decide.”
Regardless of any decision they make, Pearly-Thinaah will be motivated to emulate Pei Tty-Eei Hui and go on to reach the top of the rankings.
Currently, the Malaysians have accumulated 79,866 ranking points while the pairs ahead of them are China’s world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (103,734), Japan’s world No. 2 Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida (92,932) and South Korea’s No. 3 Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (87,500).
In tournaments, Pearly-Thinaah’s best achievement this year was finishing runners-up to Korea’s world No. 9 Kim Hye-jeong-Kong Hee-yong in the Indonesian Masters in January.
