Energy-sapping run: Pearly Tan (front) and M. Thinaah had played for over seven hours in total en route to finishing runners-up in the Malaysian Masters.
PETALING JAYA: It will be a tough call to make on Pearly Tan’s participation in the Indonesian Open with M. Thinaah.
World No. 12 Pearly-Thinaah have been drawn to play independent shuttlers Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien in the opening round tomorrow but the coaches have yet to decide whether the duo will be fielded due to Pearly’s condition.
Pearly hurt her elbow in the first round of the Singapore Open against Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi and the Malaysians were forced to concede a walkover midway in the third game (21-13, 17-21, 16-9 rtd).
A week before, they had played for over seven hours in total en route to finishing runners-up in the Malaysian Masters.
Many are suggesting for Pearly-Thinaah to skip the Open in Lion City to give them the deserving break but missing a top-level tournament like Singapore may affect their world ranking during the Olympic Games qualifying period.
They need to stay within the top 16 in the world at the end of the qualification to realise their Paris Olympics dream.
Coach Hoon Thien How will take a wait-and-see approach to gauge the progress of Pearly before deciding her fate with Thinaah.
“We have just arrived in Jakarta and will take time before deciding on their participation here,” said Thien How. “She has been recovering well from the elbow strain but I have to see her in training first.”
Thien How has until the team manager’s meeting today to decide if the duo are fit to play in Jakarta.
Meanwhile, men’s doubles Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik want to keep trying in their bid to overcome the emerging young pairs to hold their own when they continue their action in the Indonesian Open.
Aaron-Wooi Yik lost in the Singapore Open semi-finals but not after matching point-for-point against rising China pair Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang. They lost 16-21, 21-15, 21-17 and it was their fourth defeat in five meetings against the youngsters. En route to the semis, they did well to beat China’s He Jiting-Zhou Haodong, Indonesia’s Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana and Leo Rolly-Daniel Marthin.
Said Wooi Yik: “The Chinese pair were quite sharp in the first two shots and managed to control after that. We believe we can do better in the coming tournaments.
“We can also play well at the front but we needed to do that consistently.”
Said Aaron: “We managed to give a tough fight and drew level in the third game but at that stage, we probably started thinking too much.”
The score was at 16-16 in the rubber game where Weikeng-Wang Chang scored three quick points and ensured victory.
“We know what we need to rectify and we are gradually doing it. We will start from the scratch in Indonesia and work our way up again. We just have to keep trying.”
Weikeng-Wang Chang went down 13-21, 18-21 to Japan’s Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi in the final yesterday.
In the women’s singles final, South Korean An Se-young continued her sterling run by winning her fifth title of the year after toppling her arch enemy Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-16, 21-14.
FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Anthony Ginting (Ina) bt Anders Antonsen (Den) 21-16, 21-13.
Men’s doubles: Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang (Chn) 21-13, 21-18.
Women’s singles: An Se-young (Kor) bt Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) 21-16, 21-14.
Women’s doubles: Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan (Chn) bt Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (Kor) 21-16, 21-12.
Mixed doubles: Mathias Christensen-Alenxadra Boje (Den) bt Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino (Jpn) 21-14, 20-22, 21-16.
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