KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 30 — National number one women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan – M. Thinaah have described their health as being more important than trying to qualify for the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals in Guangzhou, China from December 14 to December 18.
With Pearly still recovering from a hamstring injury sustained at the Japan Open 2022 earlier this month, Thinaah said they would rather be fully prepared to compete in other tournaments than risk getting injured by competing when not fully fit.
“Although we had to skip a few tournaments, it is okay as long as we get back to being 100 per cent fit.
“The best thing will be to fully recover first and then we can give it our everything in competitions,” she told reporters after a training session here today.
Pearly – Thinaah are currently ranked 11thh in the BWF World Tour. Only the top eight pairs qualify for the Finals in Guangzhou.
With the China Open 2022 and Fuzhou China Open 200 now cancelled, there is a very slim chance for Pearly – Thinaah to collect points to compete in the BWF World Tour Finals.
To make matter worse, their participation in two tournaments in Europe, namely the Denmark Open 2022 (October 18 to October 23) and French Open 2022 (October 25 to October 30), is still in doubt, further complicating their chances of qualifying for the Guangzhou Finals.
Pearly said whether or not she will be allowed to compete in both the European tournaments, which offer ranking points for the BWF World Tour Finals, would depend on the evaluation to be carried out by the coaches next week.
“Right now I am still trying to regain my confidence and improve my on-court movement. Next week, I will try to pair up with Thinaah again,” said Pearly.
Meanwhile, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky concurred with the pair’s sentiment, saying their health was more important and that there was no need to rush them to chase ranking points for Guangzhou because the BWF World Tour Finals is an annual tournament.
He also admitted that they would not set very high targets for Pearly – Thinaah should they be given the green light to compete in the Denmark Open.
The Indonesian doubles specialist explained that it would be unrealistic to place high hopes on the world number 11 pair at the Denmark Open in Odense due to Pearly’s condition.
— Bernama
