Another mission: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah must find ways to outplay China’s Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning at the World Tour Finals.
PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah are brimming with confidence in the lead-up to the World Tour Finals from Dec 17-21 in Hangzhou.
The high-flying pair have tightened their grip at the top of the Race to Finals rankings after capturing their third title of the year in the Japan Masters in Kumamoto on Sunday and will be the top seeds in the prestigious season-ender.
Pearly-Thinaah are now out to improve their record against China’s top two pairs - world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning and world No. 4 Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian.
Both pairs will undoubtedly be the world No. 2 duo’s toughest opponents in the Tour Finals, especially with the support of their passionate home fans.
Pearly-Thinaah trail Shengshu-Tan Ning and Yifan-Shuxian 3-10 and 1-5 respectively in the head-to-head records.
Shengshu-Tan Ning denied the duo in the finals of the World Championships, Japan Open and Indonesian Open this year.
Yifan-Shuxian notably prevented Pearly-Thinaah from reaching the China Open and Hong Kong Open finals.
“We have a few tough opponents especially the Chinese pairs,” said Thinaah in a post-match interview.
“But every opponent we play are very good players, so we will discuss and come up with the best strategies when facing them.”
Pearly-Thinaah have never gone beyond the group stage in the Tour Finals and have a good opportunity to finally get a breakthrough based on their fine form.
The pair have grown from strength to strength this year under the guidance of women’s doubles coach Rosman Razak, who joined the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) last November.
On the key to their resurgence, Pearly said: “Everyone and ever thing have helped us – sparring partners, our training, discussion with our coaches and most importantly with each other.
“The main thing is Thinaah is really willing to change something and step out of her comfort zone. She has really improved a lot.”
Before the Tour Finals, the pair will first compete in the SEA Games badminton competition from Dec 7-14 in Thailand.
The Games will officially begin on Dec 9.
Pearly-Thinaah are determined to keep their feet on the ground as they look to end the season on a high.
“We’re really happy with the win (in Japan), but there are still many things we need to learn and improve on,” said Thinaah.
“For now, we’ll celebrate this moment, stay grounded, and stay focused on the next one.”
