KUALA LUMPUR: Women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have vowed to find a way to overcome China’s dangerous duo Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian.
Paris Olympics champion Yifan and her new partner Shuxian derailed Thailand Open champions Pearly-Thinaah’s hopes of winning back-to-back titles by beating them 21-16, 15-21, 21-14 in an exhausting 75-minute battle in the Malaysian Masters semi-finals at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
It was the world No. 4 pair’s second defeat to the Chinese combo after also losing to them in straight games in the last eight of the Orleans Masters.
Pearly-Thinaah were left disappointed by the loss in front of the home fans but are determined to try to gain an upper hand over the Yifan-Shuxian.
“We are disappointed by the outcome in the match today (yesterday) but we will not stay down for long,” said Pearly.
“Yifan is very strong at the back of the court. Her gameplay has variety and it’s not easy for us to guess.
“Shuxian is a very good front court player as her net play is very fast and aggressive. When combined, they are a strong pair.
“We are always trying to figure out how to beat pairs like this but things don’t always go smooth for us.
“But we keep improving in every match. Although we lost and made the same mistakes, we really try our best to solve the problem.
“We don’t know how long more we need to get wins like this and become the best but we won’t give up and we will keep trying,” added Pearly.
Despite the defeat, Pearly-Thinaah can still hold their heads high after a good two weeks despite facing an uncertain future in the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM).
The duo’s contracts in BAM expired at the end of last year but they have still not signed new deals.
Pearly-Thinaah, though, are keeping mum on their situation.
“We have no comment. We still have two back-to-back tournaments after this and we have no time. We still don’t know (about the contracts),” said Pearly.
Pearly-Thinaah were supposed to meet BAM officials for final talks on their contracts after the Thailand Open but the meeting was postponed as the pair had to immediately turn their attentions to the home tourney after winning the title.
It’s still unknown if discussions will take place as Pearly-Thinaah face a hectic schedule with the Singapore Open starting on Tuesday and the Indonesian Open coming up for them from June 3-8.
SEMI-FINAL RESULTS
(Malaysians unless stated)
Men’s singles: Li Shifeng (Chn) bt Kodai Naraoka (Jpn) 21-15, 21-15; K. Srikanth (Ind) bt Yushi Tanaka (Jpn) 21-18, 24-22.
Men’s doubles: Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun bt Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) 21-12, 21-14; Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik bt Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den) 21-19, 17-21, 21-15.
Women’s singles: Han Yue (Chn) bt Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) 21-19, 21-16; Wang Zhiyi (Chn) bt Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 21-17, 21-16.
Women’s doubles: Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Apriyani Rahayu-Febi Setianingrum (Ina) 12-21, 21-7, 21-9; Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian (Chn) bt Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah 21-16, 15-21, 21-14.
Mixed doubles: Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping (Chn) bt Ye Hong-wei-Nicole Chan (Tpe) 21-10, 21-7; Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) bt Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi (Chn) 15-21, 22-20, 21-19.
