PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have vowed to regain their momentum after seeing their good run of form come to an end in the China Open.
Pearly-Thinaah have been one of Malaysia’s most consistent performers, starting from the Paris Olympics last month before they were beaten 16-21, 18-21 by homesters Li Yijing-Luo Xumin in the second round in Changzhou on Thursday.
Despite the defeat, the world No. 8 are keeping their heads up after finishing runners-up in the Korean Open and capturing their first title in two years in the Hong Kong Open on Sunday.
The hectic schedule seemed to have caught up with Pearly-Thinaah and they were not the only Hong Kong Open champions who suffered an early exit in China.
In fact, none of the title winners in Hong Kong made it past the quarter-finals in China.
Denmark’s two-time Olympic gold medallist Viktor Axelsen (men’s singles), homester Han Yue (women’s singles), South Korea’s reigning world champions Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae (men’s doubles) and world No. 2 home pair Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin all went down before the last four.
Pearly-Thinaah are now looking forward to a good rest before looking to regain their form in the back-to-back Arctic Open (Oct 8-13) in Finland and Denmark Open (Oct 15-20) in Odense.
“For now we just want to rest and recover well and get back our momentum,” Pearly told the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“We want to be more consistent and always remember our game play.”
Meanwhile, Thinaah said that their good run in the Olympics did them a world of good and was the key to turning around their form after struggling in the beginning of the year.
“After the Olympics, we just wanted to enjoy ourselves on court more,” said Thinaah.
“A lot of burden was not on our shoulders any more. I think that helped us a lot.”
Pearly-Thinaah remain on course to qualify for the prestigious season ending World Tour Finals from Dec 11-15 in Hangzhou after missing out last year.
The pair are currently in fifth spot in the Race to Hangzhou rankings and will make the cut if they maintain their position in the top eight.
