Shuttler happy to finish campaign in Hong Kong in good form

PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Pearly Tan can finally afford to smile big.

She has come through the Hong Kong Open without any serious injuries and that to her, is a good sign ahead of the Asian Games in Hangzhou from Sept 23-Oct 8 after a difficult few months.

“I’m also really happy that I managed to complete all my matches here without any injuries,” said in an interview with Spotv Malaysia.

“I will go back and strengthen my body and I hope I can continue to be injury-free.

Pearly had suffered a right elbow injury which kept her and Thinaah out of the Singapore and Indonesian Opens in June.

The issue halted the pair’s momentum after they had played an important role in the team’s bronze medal win in the Sudirman Cup and had finished runners-up in the Malaysian Masters in May.

On Sunday, Pearly-Thinaah came close to ending their World Tour title drought before going down 21-14, 22-24, 9-21 to Indonesia’s world No. 8 Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti in the women’s doubles final in Kowloon.

Despite the defeat, the world No. 10 were happy as they had to overcome injuries and inconsistent form in the past three months to stand on the podium.

“We feel very sad to lose in the final but there are positives that we can take from this tournament,” said Pearly.

“We have come so far here and we have got back our confidence.”

After recovering and returning to competitions, Pearly-Thinaah were left frustrated after suffering early round exits in the back-to-back Korean, Japan and Australian Opens.

Pearly however, knows that they need to improve on one area badly – in handling their emotions during crucial moments.

They also had held a huge lead in the rubber game against China’s world No. 6 Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu before losing in the quarter-finals of the World Championships in Copenhagen last month.

“We really need to improve on how we handle the crucial moments of the match.”

Meanwhile, Thinaah has vowed to come back stronger as she and Pearly look forward to the Asiad.

“We want to keep improving after this and play even better in our next tournament,” said Thinaah.