KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 — Two national women’s doubles pairs, Pearly Tan – M. Thinaah and Anna Ching Yik Cheong – Teoh Mei Xing, cleared their first-round hurdle in the 2022 Malaysia Masters here today.
Pearly – Thinaah breezed through to the second round as they put up a dominant show to subdue Indian pair Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand Pullela 21 – 14, 21 – 14 in Axiata Arena.
Despite scoring the comfortable victory, Pearly said she was not satisfied with their game today.
“Today we played quite slow and not so aggressive as compared to our previous performances. We hope to improve our gameplay tomorrow,” she told reporters after the match.
The unseeded Malaysian duo will play another Indian pair, Ashwini Bhat K – Shikha Gautam, should they survive a stern test against fourth seeds Yuki Fukushima – Sayaka Hirota in the opening round tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Anna – Mei Xing took 38 minutes to beat the Aimsaard sisters, Benyapa Aimsaard – Nuntakarn Aimsaard of Thailand 21 – 19, 21 – 17.
Anna – Mei Xing, ranked 37th in the world, are set to meet either Pichamon Phatcharaphisutsin-Nannapas Sukklad of Thailand or fifth seeded duo from Japan, Mayu Matsumoto – Wakana Nagahara.
Anna said they did not feel intimidated by the Thai pair, who are ranked 30th in the world, as it was their responsibility to give their best and ensure they are still in this tournament.
However, two more local pairs, Low Yeen Yuan – Valeree Siow and Vivian Hoo – Lim Chiew Sen, crashed out of the opening round.
Yeen Yuan – Valeree were eliminated by Indonesia’s Febby Valencia Dwijayanti Gani – Ribka Sugiarto 21 – 12, 21 – 17 while Vivian-Chiew Sen went down fighting to the top seeds from China, Chen Qing Chen – Jia Yi Fan, 21 – 17, 23 – 21.
Earlier, four Malaysian men’s doubles pairs including Aaron Chia – Soh Wooi Yik and professional duo Goh V Shem – Low Juan Shen advanced to the second round.
Aaron – Wooi Yik came out tops against Japanese pair Akira Koga – Taichi Saito, winning 21 – 16, 21 – 19 while V Shem – Juan Shen beat Muhammad Shohibul Fikri – Bagas Maulana of Indonesia 15 – 21, 21 -14, 21 – 19.
— Bernama
