Familiar faces: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah will meet younger teammates Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting in the China Open.
PETALING JAYA: The dream of winning a historic medal in the women’s doubles in the World Championships is looking closer to a reality for in-form shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah.
No Malaysian women’s pair have ever managed to capture a medal in the world meet but Pearly-Thinaah seem to be the country’s best bet to finally end the elusive wait in the prestigious tourney this year which will be held just a month from now from Aug 25-31 in Paris.
The world No. 3 duo have come the closest after former world No. 1 Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty when they reached the quarter-finals in the last edition in 2023 but fell to a heartbreaking defeat to China’s Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu in Copenhagen.
Eei Hui-Pei Tty also reached the last eight in 2007 at home in Kuala Lumpur but were denied by another Chinese duo Yang Wei-Zhang Jiewen.
Reaching the semi-finals will guarantee at least a bronze and Pearly-Thinaah are heading in the right direction to achieve the feat.
The duo have been in fine form this year and made it into the finals in their last two tournaments – the Indonesian Open last month and Japan Open on Sunday.
Although Pearly-Thinaah missed out on the titles after going down to China’s world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning in both finals, they look ready to match the world’s top pairs in the biggest tournaments and are shaping up nicely for the world meet.
In the Indonesian tourney, Pearly-Thinaah reached their maiden World Tour Super 1000 final and followed it up in Japan by progressing into their first Super 750 title match since capturing the French Open crown in 2022.
The pair notably secured a morale-boosting win over home favourites and world No. 2 Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida in the last four of the Japan tourney.
Pearly-Thinaah have also become a more consistent pair this year, triumphing in the Thailand Open in May and finishing runners-up in the Indonesian Masters in January.
Women’s doubles coach Rosman Razak is happy with his charges’ progress ahead of the world meet and hopes the pair can maintain their form in the China Open which starts today in Changzhou to build momentum for the showpiece event in Paris.
“Although Pearly-Thinaah missed out on the title, they played quite well in the Japan Open,” said Rosman.
“They are progressing well and they want to remain positive for this week’s China Open. The most important is their recovery process ahead of this tournament.”
Meanwhile, doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky believes another podium finish in China is possible for Pearly-Thinaah.
“It’s good to see that Pearly-Thinaah have become consistent by reaching finals more regularly,” said Rexy.
“Hopefully, they can finish on the podium again in China.”
Pearly-Thinaah will open their campaign in Changzhou against younger teammates Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting.
If the pair reach the semi-finals, they could lock horns with Matsuyama-Shida again.
The other Malaysians in action in the women’s doubles are Teoh Mei Xing-Go Pei Kee, who should have little trouble getting past Poland’s Paulina Hankiewicz-Kornelia Marczak in the first round.
