PETALING JAYA: Losing in the first round of the Japan Open was a bitter pill to swallow for Pearly Tan, but it was certainly a big relief to finish the match without any injury.
Pearly and M. Thinaah, who reached the final last year, suffered a surprise 21-9, 17-21, 17-21 defeat to Taiwan’s Hsu Yin-hui-Lin Jhih-yun at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium yesterday.
It was Pearly-Thinaah’s first defeat to the world No. 12 pair in four meetings after winning their previous three encounters, including at the Asian Championships in Ningbo in April.
After going through several injury problems in recent months, Pearly admitted that staying healthy is now her main concern, especially with the World Championships in New Delhi less than five weeks away.
“I’m really happy that I got to play on court and finish the match safely. For me, my health is more important right now,” said Pearly.
“I’m just trying to get my momentum back, appreciate every match and do my best, whether I win or lose.
“I think I’ve recovered well and everything is good for now. I just have to play safe because I know I’m more fragile and I’ve had a lot of injuries recently.
“It’s been a tough time, but the team have helped me a lot and helped me recover faster so I can play in tournaments again.
“I’m very happy and I hope I can continue playing safely heading into the world meet,” said Pearly in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
On their defeat to Hsu-Lin, Pearly admitted that they were guilty of rushing their shots at crucial moments, which led to costly errors.
“I think at the crucial points, we were rushing too much to kill the shots and that caused a lot of mistakes that we shouldn’t have made.
“That brought us down as well. At the crucial points, we couldn’t get the points we needed because we were rushing too much,” said Pearly.
Pearly had to pull out of the Uber Cup Finals in Horsens, Denmark, at the last minute in April due to a back injury.
A few weeks ago, the Kedah-born shuttler also experienced discomfort in her ankle and had to practise hitting shuttlecocks while seated.
Pearly-Thinaah made history last year when they became the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to win a silver medal at the World Championships in Paris.
