Badminton

Pearly-Thinaah can fight their way out from 'group of death'

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's badminton sensations Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah have landed in the 'group of death' for the season-ending World Tour Finals which gets underway tomorrow in Bangkok.

The world No 9 women's doubles are in Group B with China's three-time world champions Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan and world No 7 Zhang Shu Xian-Zheng Yu and Indonesia's last minute inclusions Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silvia Ramadhanti who are the Sea Games champions.

Academy Badminton Malaysia doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky admitted that Pearly-Thinaah will not have it easy, but believes the French Open champions can clear the group stage, given their current form.

"The draw for Pearly-Thinaah is really tough. However, I'm hoping for them to fight hard against the other pairs and they are in good form," said Rexy.

Only the top two pairs from each group will qualify for the semi-finals.

The other Malaysian women's doubles pair in the fray are independents Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien who are in Group A with two Thai combinations, Benyapa Aimsaard-Nuntakarn Aimsaard and world No 6 Jonkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai, as well as Jeong Na Eun-Kim Hye Jeong of South Korea.

In men's doubles, Rexy expects world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik to clear the round-robin stage. The world No 4 are in Group B with three-time former world champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia, Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi of China and Denmark's Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.

The other Malaysian men's pair, world No 8 Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, are in Group A alongside Indonesia's Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto, South Korea's Choi Solgyu-Kim Won Ho and world No 1 Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi.

The rest of the Malaysians in the US$1.5 million event are world No 8 Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing and world No 11 Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai.

Kian Meng-Pei Jing are in Group B with Thailand's Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai and Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran and China's Wang Yi Lyu-Huang Dong Ping.

Soon Huat-Shevon are in Group A with world No 3 Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong, France's Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue and Indonesia's Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas Mentari.

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