PETALING JAYA: Doubles shuttler Pearly Tan should be back on her feet to deliver the goods at the Opens in Singapore and Indonesia with M. Thinaah.
That’s the assurance given by national doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky.
Yesterday, Rexy confirmed that Pearly-Thinaah had withdrawn from the Malaysian Masters starting today at the Unifi Arena in Bukit Jalil as the former was deemed unfit following the back injury sustained before the Uber Cup Finals.
The world No. 2’s absence will surely take the glamour out of the women’s doubles event but Rexy said it was for the best.
“This decision was made after Rosman Razak (women’s doubles head coach) assessed Pearly’s condition. With consecutive tournaments coming up, she still needs more time to recover.
“It was a difficult decision to make but we had to in the best interest of all parties as we did not want Pearly to risk getting injured again.”
Pearly-Thinaah are expected to compete in the Singapore Open from May 26-31, followed by the Indonesian Open from June 2-7.
Pearly had been struggling with the back injury, which forced her to withdraw from the Uber Cup Finals in Horsens, Denmark three weeks ago.
Pearly-Thinaah also skipped last week’s Thailand Open, where they were the defending champions.
The pair were seen as among Malaysia’s strongest medal hopes on home ground this week after being seeded top following the withdrawal of world No. 1 pair Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning of China.
With Pearly-Thinaah out, Malaysia will now look to Carmen Ting-Ong Xin Yee, Chong Jie Yu-Vanessa Ng, Low Zi Yu-Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan and Cheng Su Hui-Tan Zhing Hui to carry the challenge in the women’s doubles event.
Earlier, Malaysia had already been dealt a blow with the withdrawal of defending men’s doubles champions Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun after Wei Chong’s right knee injury became more serious and required further treatment.
