PETALING JAYA: Being one of the world’s top shuttlers can be stressful and it’s important to find ways to relax and unwind.
Pearly Tan, who forms Malaysia’s No. 1 women’s doubles pairing with M. Thinaah, relaxes by playing Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
Pearly said that she sometimes plays the popular video game with mixed doubles player Toh Ee Wei.
Ee Wei is also Malaysia’s No. 1 mixed pair with Chen Tang Jie.
“I play Mobile Legends with Ee Wei sometimes. It’s something fun for me after a tense match or a tiring training session,” said Pearly after a meet-and- greet session with fans at Menara Affin in Tun Razak Exchange yesterday.
“Although sometimes I do get stressed when I keep losing the game but it’s still nice to play during my free time,” she joked.
On court, Pearly is enjoying one of her best years with Thinaah and hopes to continue their progress.
Pearly-Thinaah created history by becoming the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to reach the Olympic semi-finals in Paris in August.
The pair then continued their good form by capturing their first title in two years at the Hong Kong Open in September and finished runners-up in the Korean and Arctic Opens.
Pearly-Thinaah’s positive displays saw them rise to No. 6 in the world rankings after starting the year as No. 15.
The duo also booked their spot in the prestigious season-ending World Tour Finals from Dec 11-15 in Hangzhou.
Pearly is pleased with her progress with Thinaah this year but believes that they still have room for improvement.
“This is the year that we learned a lot. We have really grown up a lot as a pair,” said Pearly.
“We know how to handle pressure as well as problems. Our communication is really good now and this helps us a lot when we face problems especially when we are not playing well.
“We can bounce back back even when we are tired or even after we play a bad match. We really support each other and cover each other a lot.
“We could have done even better this year but we are happy with our results. We hope to keep improving.”
Meanwhile, Thinaah is looking forward to competing in the Tour Finals for the third time after also making the cut in 2021 and 2022.
“We are really happy that we have qualified. It’s the last tournament of the year and it’s very important,” said Thinaah.
“For any badminton player, it’s definitely a privilege to play in one of the world’s biggest tournaments where only the top eight pairs qualify.
“We just want to remind each other to enjoy every moment and play our best and not to leave any regrets on court.”
Pearly-Thinaah will be joined in Hangzhou by China’s reigning Olympic champions Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan, Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning, Japan’s Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida, Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi, South Korea’s Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee, Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji-Amalia Cahaya and India’s Tressa Jolly-Gayathri Gopichand.
