KUALA LUMPUR: National women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah do not intend to rest on their laurels despite being given top billing for the upcoming Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
The world No. 11, who will be making their Commonwealth Games debut, feel that they will still need to be on top of their game if they are to clinch the coveted women’s doubles gold at the National Exhibition Centre and defend the title for Malaysia.
“I think that’s (gold) not only our target (as) every shuttler will now be aiming for the gold medal. For us, the main target is to always give our best and take it one game at a time.
“I think there are many countries with very good and consistent players. So, we are not going to mention any particular country (as our main challengers), but prepare for each game regardless of who we meet,” the 24-year-old Klang-born Thinaah said when met yesterday.
Meanwhile, Pearly said that being the top seeds in Birmingham would serve as a motivation to make the country proud by giving Malaysia its hattrick of women’s doubles gold medal when the badminton events begin on July 29.
“Actually, we are very excited to be able to compete in the Commonwealth Games. We are really looking forward to it. Everything is good, we’ve really prepared well for this Commonwealth Games,” said the 22-year-old.
The duo have been progressing well in the world tours, having stunned Japanese world number two Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota and world No.7 Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia en route to reaching the semifinals of the recent Malaysia Masters.
The 2021 Swiss Open champions are expected to be challenged by home favourites and world No.14 Chloe Birch-Lauren Smith, Canadians Rachel Honderich-Kristen Tsai (23) and India’s Ashwini Ponnappa-N. Sikki Reddy (25) among others.
Malaysia have won back-to-back women’s doubles title in the Commonwealth Games, with Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Whei triumphing in Glasgow 2014 and Vivian-Chow Mei Kuan emerging victorious in Gold Coast 2018. –Bernama