KUALA LUMPUR: The country’s top women’s doubles pair, Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah, met expectations by advancing to the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters 2024 after eliminating their Indian opponents in the second-round match held at Axiata Arena, Bukit Jalil, today.
The second seeds of the tournament and the 2023 runners-up took 32 minutes to defeat the pair of Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker 21-17, 21-11 and are scheduled to face Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu from Australia tomorrow.
In today’s match, Thinaah admitted she needed some time to “warm up” before gaining momentum in the game, having last competed in the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) 2024 in Ningbo, China, last April.
“We are very excited to play in this tournament because we haven’t competed in quite a while. In the first set, our rhythm was a bit slow, but in the second set, after discussing with the coach, we improved our game and are happy with this win.
“We tried several new things on the court today, and we hope to improve for the next match,” she told reporters.
Meanwhile, Pearly also shared the good news that she is now injury-free and needs to be more cautious in the lead-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics in July.
Other national representatives who advanced to the quarterfinals include mixed doubles pairs Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie, and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing.
Tang Jie and Ee Wei, who defeated the Indian pair Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy, will face their compatriots Kian Meng and Pei Jing, while Soon Huat and Shevon Lai will take on the seventh seeds from Indonesia, Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Lisa Ayu Kusumawati, in the quarterfinal match tomorrow.
