PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan - M.Thinaah are eyeing more milestones together after rising to a career high No. 2 in the latest world rankings.
Pearly-Thinaah officially moved up one rung from No. 3 after their semi-final finish in the China Open in Changzhou last week and are now hungry for more achievements.
The pair are the first Malaysians in the women’s doubles to break into the world’s top two since Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty, who reached No. 1 in the world in 2009.
“Slowly but surely. Another milestone and to breaking more barriers together,” said Thinaah via Instagram yesterday.
Reaching the top two in the world is a well deserved achievement for Pearly-Thinaah as the pair have been in fine form this year.
The duo captured the Thailand Open and finished runners-up in the Indonesian Open and Masters and Japan Open.
Pearly-Thinaah progressed into the last four and final of a World Tour Super 1000 event for the first time in the Indonesian Open and also made it into their first Super 750 title match in Japan since capturing the French Open in 2022
Pearly-Thinaah, though, have some way to go to overtake current world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning from China.
The formidable Chinese pair have opened up a significant gap at the top after amassing 111,634 ranking points while the Malaysians have 89,416 points.
Shengshu-Tan Ning have been among Pearly-Thinaah’s toughest opponents this year, notably denying them in the finals in Indonesia and Japan.
Pearly-Thinaah do have an opportunity, though, to end the country’s medal drought in the women’s doubles in the World Championships from Aug 25-31 in Paris.
The pair’s No. 2 ranking will give them a better seeding in the showpiece event and they will avoid Shengshu-Tan Ning until the final.
The official seedings will be released on Aug 8 while the draw for the tournament will be out on Aug 13.
Pearly-Thinaah came closest to ending their wait for a medal in the last world meet in 2023 but narrowly lost to China’s Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu in the quarter-finals in Copenhagen.
They are now primed to go further and break down another barrier.
