Malaysia’s top women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah showed signs that their efforts to rebuild their playing style are paying off after advancing to the last 16 of the Badminton World Championships in New Delhi, India, yesterday.
The world No. 5 pair needed just 34 minutes to defeat Türkiye’s world No. 22 combination of Bengisu Ercetin-Nazlican Inci, winning 21-16, 21-13.
Pearly said she and Thinaah had been focused on rebuilding their attacking game since returning from the Taiwan Open earlier this month, following the disruption caused by her back injury.
“We lost a bit of our rhythm when I was injured, and my movement was also slower previously. So, over the past two weeks, I have worked on improving my movement and our attacking style.
“I think things are better now. Although we only had two weeks, we did everything we could. I’m now free from injury, so I’m really happy to be back on court with Thinaah,” she was quoted as saying by the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
Pearly explained that after recovering from her injury, she spent more time training individually, which affected the pair’s aggression and understanding on court.
The Malaysians are expected to face world No. 13 Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Meilysa Trias Puspitasari of Indonesia for a place in the quarter-finals. Pearly-Thinaah will take confidence from their 5-1 head-to-head record against the Indonesian pair.
Meanwhile, mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai also advanced after defeating the United States’ Chen Zi Yi-Francesca Corbett 21-15, 21-16.
The married Malaysian pair will face China’s Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi in the third round today.
However, there was disappointment for Malaysia’s young women’s doubles combination of Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting, who were making their World Championships debut.
They were beaten by Japan’s world No. 2 pair Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto 15-21, 15-21 in a 45-minute match.
