Pearly-Thinaah stay grounded despite world No. 2 ranking
PETALING JAYA: A world No. 2 ranking may look good on paper, but shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah are not buying into the hype just yet.
Instead, the women's doubles pair Pearly-Thinaah are keeping their feet on the ground, insisting that being ranked No. 2 in the world offers no real advantage heading into the World Championships in Paris from Aug 25-31.
Usually, a high world ranking often comes with the benefit of a favourable draw, helping players avoid other top seeds in the early rounds.
However, Pearly-Thinaah believe this offers no guarantees, as many strong pairs are still in the mix despite their career-high world ranking.
Their main focus is to maintain consistent performances in every tournament and continue supporting each other, both on and off the court.
'I think for us, being world No. 2 is just a number. What matters most is keeping our game more and more consistent and always supporting each other throughout the match,' said Thinaah.
'There are also many other strong players. It's not about avoiding top opponents, at this level, everyone is on par.
'So yes, we're happy to be ranked No. 2, I won't deny that, but our main focus right now is definitely to keep improving our consistency.
'I think recently we've been doing well in supporting each other, whether we win or lose, whether we're leading or trailing.
'We're always communicating, discussing things, and finding solutions together. I believe that's the most important thing,' said Thinaah.
Pearly-Thinaah made their World Championships debut in the 2021 edition in Huelva, Spain, where they only managed to reach the second round.
A year later in Tokyo, they improved on that result by progressing to the third round before falling to Japan's Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida.
Their best showing came in the 2023 edition in Copenhagen, Denmark, where they reached the quarter-finals before going down to China's Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu.
With hopes of doing better this year, Pearly-Thinaah have been working hard to improve on their weaknesses, particularly if they are drawn to face top pairs such as world No. 1 Liu Sheng Shu–Tan Ning or Shida-Matsuyama again.
For the record, the Chinese pair have won nine of their 12 encounters against Pearly-Thinaah, including their most recent clash at the Japan Open finals last month.
'Their game is very aggressive and they constantly put us under pressure,' said Thinaah.
'That's something we're trying to learn from them, and we're still working on improving our weaknesses ahead of the upcoming tournaments.'
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