All England: Pearly-Thinaah Through To Last Eight After Injury Scare

KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 (Bernama) -- National number one women's doubles pair Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah overcame an injury to Pearly before prevailing 21-16, 21-14 against Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti in the second round of the All England 2025 in Birmingham.

The fifth-seeded Malaysians needed 43 minutes to tame the Indonesians and check into the quarter-finals of the world’s oldest badminton tournament at the Utilita Arena Birmingham.

Pearly-Thinaah started well to take the opening game and looked unstoppable in the second as well when they led 15-7.

However, disaster nearly struck when Pearly seemed to have twisted her left ankle when trying to execute a delicate drop shot.

The match was halted for almost five minutes and, with the help of some pain-relief spray, the 24-year-old Pearly soldiered on, displaying immense courage to seal victory.

Pearly-Thinaah will next take on third seeds Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida after the Japanese pair defeated the Stoeva sisters of Gabriela and Stefani from Bulgaria 21-14, 21-19.

Meanwhile, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie proved to be a class above as they destroyed Scotland's Alexander Dunn-Julie MacPherson 21-9, 21-10 in just 25 minutes.

The top-seeded Malaysians will next play fifth seeds Jiang Zhen Bang-Huang Dong Ping after the China pair had earlier disposed of Taiwan’s Lu Ming Che-Hung En-Tzu 21-13, 21-17.

Shevon said they will analyse the Chinese pair's game, especially Dong Ping’s, to study their weaknesses in a bid to book a place in the semi-finals.

“I think she’s (Dong Ping) an all-rounder. She can play at the back and front court, is very stable in her shots and it’s quite difficult to score easy points against her. We need to be patient and make sure every shot counts,” she said.

-- BERNAMA