National women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M Thinaah provided the only spark at the Kumamoto Masters in Japan this morning, advancing to the quarter-finals by defeating a South Korean pair.
The world No 2 shuttlers defeated the 20th-ranked Jeong Na Eun-Lee Yeon Woo 21-14, 21-9 in a 31-minute match at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium.
It was the fourth time Pearly-Thinaah had beaten their rivals in as many encounters.
In the quarter-finals, they will meet the winners of the match between Taiwanese pair Hsu Yin Hui-Lin Jhih Yun and Nanako Hara-Riko Kiyose from Japan.
It was an otherwise gloomy morning for the Malaysian camp which saw three of its representatives knocked out in the second round.
First to fall were mixed doubles pair Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin who lost to Thai top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran 21-14, 12-21, 17-21 in 52 minutes.
Independent mixed doubles pair Jimmy Wong-Lai Pei Jing were likewise defeated by Taiwan’s Ye Hong Wei-Nicole Gonzales Chan 17-21, 14-21 in 29 minutes.
In the women’s singles, world No 41 K Letshanaa gave her much higher-ranked Taiwanese rival Chiu Pin Chian a tough fight before bowing out 22-24, 17-21 in a 52-minute match.
