PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles ace Pearly Tan revealed she played through pain during the quarter-final loss to China’s Li Yijing-Luo Xumin at the Asian Championships in Ningbo, China, on Friday.
Pearly and M. Thinaah, the world No. 2, went down 13-21, 15-21 to Li Yijing-Luo Xumin in their bid to reach the semi-finals, which would have guaranteed at least a bronze medal.
The defeat dashed the Malaysians’ hopes of ending a 16-year medal drought for the country in the women’s doubles at the tournament, with the last coming through Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei at the 2010 edition in New Delhi.
However, Pearly admitted she had been struggling with a recurring back problem during the match, which flared up and left her uncomfortable on court.
The Kedah-born player said she began feeling the pain again during their second-round match against Taiwan’s Hsu Yin-hui-Lin Jhih-yun.
“Honestly, after yesterday’s match (Thursday), the pain came back,” said Pearly to Badminton Asia.
“But fortunately, my chiropractor was able to help me recover quickly and I felt better in time to perform today (Friday), and I really gave everything I had.
“When I stepped on court, I didn’t feel the pain and I thought I had fully recovered.
“But midway through the match, the pain came back. I tried my best to finish the game.’’
As for Thinaah, she admitted their opponents executed a better game plan, making it difficult for them to win points.
“I think our opponents played better,” said Thinaah.
“Their attacking play had a lot of variation, which kept putting us out of position and that is something we need to be more alert about. That cost us the match.”
