PETALING JAYA: Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah’s quest to deliver Malaysia’s first women’s doubles medal at the World Championships in Paris (Aug 25-31) is alive and well, but it will take grit for them to make history.
Women’s doubles head coach Rosman Razak is fine-tuning preparations for the second seeds and another pair, Go Pei Kee and Teoh Mei Xing, with the target crystal clear — a place on the podium.
Pearly-Thinaah enjoy a first-round bye and will take on either Hong Kong’s Tsang Hiu Yan-Lui Lok Lok or Switzerland’s Julie Franconville-Chloe Brand in the second round. Victory could set up a third-round showdown with Indonesia’s Lanny Tria Mayasari-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti.
If they can keep their winning run going into the quarter-finals and beyond, a spot in the semi-finals will assure them of at least a bronze medal, making them the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to stand on the World Championships podium since the event began in 1977.
The World Championships will be held at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena, a venue familiar to Pearly-Thinaah, as they competed there last year during the Paris Olympics, where they reached the bronze medal playoff.
However, Rosman does not want to rely on past memories, believing that this year’s tournament will be very different from what they experienced 12 months ago.
"I still hold on to the same belief because every tournament comes with different challenges. I do not want to think too far ahead. It is the same for Pearly and Thinaah — we are not too focused on who we will be up against.
"For now, we are concentrating on what we need to work on in training to prepare for this World Championships. Overall, I feel the preparations are going well. There are no serious injuries, and everything that we need to work on in these three weeks has been done to my satisfaction," said Rosman when met at Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara yesterday.
If Pearly-Thinaah can make the podium this time, it will also help make up for the disappointment of 2023 in Copenhagen, when they missed out on a semi-final spot despite leading China’s Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu before going down 21-17, 17-21, 19-21.
"I think anyone would want to (win a medal). Every pair shares that dream. I believe we are heading in that direction and are training for it. Hopefully, we can achieve the breakthrough you mentioned earlier. All our thoughts are on that goal (win a medal)," he added.
