Malaysia’s top women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah have been forced to withdraw from the Malaysia Masters 2026, which begins tomorrow at the Unifi Arena in Bukit Jalil.
The latest setback was confirmed by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) through a statement on Facebook, citing a recurring back injury suffered by Pearly as the reason behind the withdrawal.
“BAM confirms that Pearly Tan has withdrawn from the Malaysia Masters 2026 due to a recurring back injury,” the association said.
The development comes after Pearly also missed the chance to represent Malaysia during the 2026 Uber Cup campaign held in Horsens, Denmark.
With the absence of the country’s top-ranked women’s doubles duo, national hopes in the category will now rest on younger pairs Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting and Chong Jie Yu-Vanessa Ng.
Seventh seeds Xin Yee and Carmen are set to open their campaign against Taiwan’s Hsieh Yi En and Teng Chun Hsun, while Jie Yu and Vanessa will take on another Taiwanese pair, Chen Yan Fei and Liang Ching Sun, in the opening round.
The Super 500 tournament offers a total prize pool of USD500,000 (RM1.98 million).
Meanwhile, national women’s doubles head coach Rosman Razak said it was still too early to allow Pearly to return to competitive action despite her recovery progressing positively.
He said the decision was made after discussions with national doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky, stressing that the team did not want to take unnecessary risks with several major tournaments still ahead.
“We understand the sentiments and expectations of local fans who hoped to see them compete on home soil, but this decision was made to ensure Pearly’s recovery reaches the best possible level,” he said in a separate statement.
Rosman added that the participation of Pearly and Thinaah in the Singapore Open 2026 from May 26 to 31, followed by the Indonesia Open 2026 from June 2 to 7, remains uncertain and will depend entirely on Pearly’s fitness condition.
