PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Pearly Tan is now back in the world’s top 10 rankings for women’s doubles with her partner M. Thinaah for only the second time together, thanks to their French Open victory recently.
They are ranked at a career best ninth currently. Pearly-Thinaah were ranked 10th for the first time in May but dropped out a few weeks later.
And the 22-year-old Pearly has attributed her stunning turnaround at the recent French Open after just recovering from a hamstring injury to the effectiveness of the sports and fitness elastic tape KT Tape in the management and protection of sports injuries.
Pearly, who was announced as the product ambassador of the Sunlight Sports Group, said KT Tape helped her a lot throughout her rehabilitation period from August until her successful title run in Paris with her partner Thinaah.
Pearly and Thinaah subdued some of the world’s best pairings, including a 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 victory over two-time world champions Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara of Japan in the final, to become the first women’s doubles winners from Malaysia in French Open history since 1908.
Pearly admitted the success came out of the blue as it was just seven weeks ago when she sustained a hamstring injury in the first round of the Japan Open and left the court in tears in a wheelchair.
“After the injury, I have been using KT Tape almost every day for training and during matches.
“It protects me from pain and also helps with my movement in the ring. KT Tape made me feel secure and gave me the confidence to fight all the way and perform at my best without worrying.
“Throughout my rehabilitation, I felt a bit sad because I was only able to see my friends training hard from outside the court.
“But that difficult moment is also what gave me the impetus to work harder to speed up my recovery so that I could return to the court as soon as possible.
Doubles star Nur Izzuddin Rumsani was also announced as the KT Tape ambassador, making them part of the Sunlight Sports family which already includes Tan Boon Heong, Ong Yew Sin, Teo Ee Yi and Goh Jin Wei.
KT Tape is a revolutionary sports and fitness elastic adhesive tape developed in the USA, which functions to reduce the risk of sports injuries while reducing pain, speeding up recovery and preventing muscle and joint pain.
