Ruthless Pearly-Thinaah in final

Daily Express

5 hours ago

Published on: Sunday, June 08, 2025
Published on: Sun, Jun 08, 2025
By: Bernama Text Size: Saturday's win marks the third time that Pearly-Thinaah will be playing in a final this season. The pair have won a total of four BWF World Tour titles to date. PETALING JAYA: Women's doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah stormed into the Indonesian Open final after an impressive win over China's world No. 6 Li Yijing-Luo Xumin. Pearly-Thinaah displayed great fighting spirit and determination to come from behind to claim a 12-21, 21-17, 21-11 victory in 64 minutes at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta on Saturday (June 7).
Advertisement It was a huge breakthrough for the world No. 4 pair as they have reached their maiden World Tour Super 1000 final. Pearly-Thinaah achieved the personal milestone after avenging their defeat to Yijing-Xuomin in the China Open last September. Standing in Pearly-Thinaah's way to their biggest title so far will either be another Chinese pair, world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning or South Korea's world No. 3 Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee. 'We are very happy because we managed to change the rhythm of the game to our advantage. We supported each other and communicated well, which greatly helped our win today,' said Pearly.
Advertisement The pair also expressed satisfaction but believe there is still much room for improvement heading into their second final appearance in Indonesia. 'For now, we want to get enough rest, discuss with our coach, and focus on recovery,' she added. Earlier, national mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei were stranded in the semi-finals after losing to Thailand's Kittinupong Kedren-Dechapol Puavaranukroh, 21-23, 21-15, 21-11. Saturday's win marks the third time that Pearly-Thinaah will be playing in a final this season. Their first final appearance was also at the Istora Stadium in Jakarta during the Indonesia Masters in January, where they lost to South Korea's Kim Hye Jeong-Kong Hee-Yong. Last month, they won the Super 500 Thailand Open, and now, they are in the hunt for their first title in the Super 1000 series, which offers a total prize money of US$1.45 million (RM6.13 million). Pearly-Thinaah have won a total of four BWF World Tour titles to date. The winners of the doubles events today will earn US$107,300 (RM452, 289), and the runners-up US$50,750 (RM214,520). The semi-finalists take home US$20,300 (RM85,898). Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah were in ruthless form on Friday (June 6) when the pair took just 37 minutes to sent Japan's Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi packing with a superb 21-6, 21-18 win. It was their fifth win against the Japanese pair. Meanwhile, the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury sustained by national men's singles shuttler Ng Tze Yong may well see him struggle to regain his old form, said former world number one Roslin Hashim. The ex-national shuttler also admitted that even before the ACL injury, Tze Yong's performances of late had been quite shaky since returning to action in April following a back injury. 'When Tze Yong sustained the lower back injury previously, he had to undergo surgery… now he has got an ACL injury (knee). These two lower parts of the body are extremely crucial to a shuttler. 'When he came back to action (after his lower back injury), his performance wasn't that stable either. At an age where he should be reaching his peak powers but, unfortunately, he has suffered another serious injury and his recovery this time will take a long time. So, it will be difficult for Tze Yong to regain his old form,' he said. The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) confirmed in a statement that Tze Yong suffered an ACL injury, with the 25-year-old shuttler also admitting to finding it hard to accept this latest injury blow after all the efforts he had put in to get back to action. BAM singles coaching director Kenneth Jonassen said Tze Yong, who may be sidelined for nine to 12 months, is currently undergoing prehabilitation (prehab) to strengthen the knee and the surrounding muscles ahead of the scheduled surgery for the ACL injury he sustained at the 2025 Malaysia Masters last month. Tze Yong has suffered various injuries, including a muscle tear in his back followed by a spinal injury since last year and underwent a long period of rest and rehabilitation before returning to action in the Badminton Asia Championship 2025 in Ningbo, China, in April. Despite his bleak assessment of Tze Yong's situation, Roslin, however, hopes the 2022 Commonwealth Games men's singles silver medallist possesses a burning desire and determination to fight back from adversity. 'I sympathise with Tze Yong, I hope he remains strong. If he intends to get back on the court, he will need every ounce of his inner strength and remain steadfast in facing this latest setback,' he said. Roslin, winner of the men's singles gold medal at the 2001 SEA Games, said the absence of the Johor-born Tze Yong, ranked 199 in the world, has also been a huge loss for the national camp. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.
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