Heartbreak: It was Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah ‘s fifth straight defeat to Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan. — AFP
PETALING JAYA: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah need to find the formula to overcome China’s world No. 1 Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan after their losing run against the pair continued in the Japan Open.
The national women’s doubles pair went down 15-21, 13-21 to Qingchen-Yifan in the second round at the Yoyogi Gymnasium in Tokyo yesterday.
It was world No. 11 Pearly-Thinaah’s fifth consecutive defeat to the Chinese pair.
The former had also lost out to eventual winners Qingchen-Yifan in the second round of the Korean Open last week.
Pearly-Thinaah were unhappy with their performance this time.
“It’s quite a disappointing performance from us,” lamented Thinaah.
“But we need to accept this defeat and learn from it. The Chinese pair are more experienced than us and managed to stay calm although we were leading by a few points. They were also more aggressive than us.
“We need to discuss where we went wrong here and do better in our next tournament.”
It was only Pearly-Thinaah’s second tournament after the former’s recovery from an elbow injury.
It was also all over for Malaysia in the mixed doubles when Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei and Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See were shown the exit.
World No. 14 Tang Jie-Ee Wei found China’s world No. 1 Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong too hot to handle and succumbed to a 11-21, 13-21 defeat.
Mixed doubles coach Nova Widianto admitted that Tang Jie-Ee Wei still had work to do to close the gap with Siwei-Yaqiong.
“Tang Jie-Ee Wei played with a lack of confidence today (yesterday),” said Nova.
“It’s really not easy to get points off the Chinese pair and our pair struggled in their defence.
“Tang Jie-Ee Wei need to work harder to reach a higher level.
“They still need to improve on their individual technique and consistency.”
Meanwhile, independent pair and world No. 42 Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See went down fighting 18-21, 21-19, 18-21 to Thailand’s world No. 13 Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran.
Despite the defeat, Peng Soon-Yee See can take heart from their battling performance.
The pair had also done well to topple world No. 7 Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue of France 21-18, 21-18 in the first round.
