Badminton News: National pair Pearly Tan / M Thinaah could benefit from the withdrawal of local pair and second seed Yuki Fukushima / Sayaka Hirota from the 2022 World Championships in Tokyo.

The world number two pair were forced to retire in the second round against Singapore pair Jin Yujia/Crystal Wong yesterday after Fukushima suffered a left calf injury.

Fukushima/Hirota’s withdrawal would be a blow to home country hopes, but Pearly/Thinaah who were drawn in the same round as the pair could benefit from their absence provided they can navigate a path dangerous towards the semi-finals.

Yesterday Pearly/Thinaah defeated Treesa Jolly/Gayathri Gopichand of India 21-8 and 21-17 in the second round.

In front of them was their compatriot Fukushima/Hirota who was also ranked 5th in the world, Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida.

Pearly/Thinaah face a tough task against Matsuyama/Shida as they have never beaten them before in five encounters.

Malaysia, however, are in good form after winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and will be looking to claim their first victory against the Japanese pair.

“We are happy with our performance against the Indian pair, but we believe there is still room for improvement,” he said.

“We will rest well and prepare for the next game. We don’t want to think about our opponents too much, but we just want to focus on every game, give it our all,” added Thinaah.

It was the end of the road for another national pair, Anna Cheong/Teoh Mei Xing who found another Korean pair, world number 10 Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong was too hot to handle and lost 13 -21 and 12-21 .

It was Anna/Mei Xing’s second consecutive defeat against Korea after their second-best quarter-final performance at the Malaysia Masters last month.

Tags: Pearly Tan, M Thinaah, Yuki Fukushima, Sayaka Hirota

Published by Ligaolahraga.com at https://www.ligaolahraga.com/badminton/pearlythinaah-beruntung-dengan-mundurnya-yuki-fukushimasayaka-hirota