M. Thinaah and Pearly Tan. - AFP
PETALING JAYA: Women's doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah's stellar year so far has seen them move top of the World Tour Finals rankings for the first time.
Pearly-Thinaah have 104,860 points and are currently just ahead of China's second-placed Liu Shengsh-Tan Ning (103,150).
Reaching top spot is a huge boost for the world No. 2 pair, who will be motivated to reach No. 1 in the world rankings next.
The World Tour and world rankings are separate. The former ranking only accumulate Tour events while the latter include every tournament, including the official ones and team events.
Shengshu-Tan Ning are still ranked No. 1 in the world ranking with 110,884 points while Pearly-Thinaah are closely behind with 91,316 points.
The Malaysians will be out to close the gap when they compete next in the back-to-back Japan Masters in Kumamoto starting next Tuesday (Nov 11) and Australian Open (Nov 18-23).
Pearly-Thinaah are the top seeds in both the competitions as Shengshu-Tan Ning have chosen to skip the tourneys.
Pearly-Thinaah will also be out to end the year on a high in the Tour Finals from Dec 17-21 in Hangzhou.
The pair have never progressed past the group stage before in the prestigious competition and will be keen for a breakthrough.
