Japan in hand, Pearly-Thinaah now eye China’s stronghold at Finals

PETALING JAYA: Red-hot shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have set their sights on an even bigger prize – toppling China’s formidable top two women’s doubles pairs.

Fresh off their sizzling run in Kumamoto, the in-form duo clinched their third title of the year at the Japan Masters on Sunday, underscoring their growing confidence and ambition.

The victory meant that the World Championships silver medallists have tightened their grip on top spot in the World Tour Finals rankings and will head to Hangzhou for the prestigious season ender from Dec 17-21 as the top seeds.

Pearly-Thinaah have set their sights on improving their record against China’s world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning and world No. 4 Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian next.

Both pairs will be the duo’s toughest opponents in the Tour Finals.

Shengshu-Tan Ning denied Pearly-Thinaah in the finals of the world meet, Indonesian Open and Japan Open this year. Yifan-Shuxian notably prevented the world No. 2 pair from reaching the Hong Kong Open final and Singapore Open semi-final.

“We have a few tough opponents especially the Chinese pairs,” said Thinaah in a post-match interview.

“But every opponent we play are very good players, so we will discuss and come up with the best strategies when facing them.

Pearly-Thinaah have never gone beyond the group stage in the Tour Finals and have a good opportunity to finally get a breakthrough based on their form.

Before the Tour Finals, the pair will first compete in the SEA Games badminton competition from Dec 7-14 in Thailand.

The Games will officialy begin on Dec 9.