SHUTTLER Pearly Tan believes it will take some time for Lee Meng Yean to settle in as the new women's doubles coach.
Meng Yean first quit the national team in January before announcing her retirement from the sport last month.
However, just days later, the 27-year-old was appointed as women's doubles coach by the BA of Malaysia (BAM).
The news did not only come as a surprise to the badminton fraternity but to Meng Yean's former teammates as well.
Pearly, who makes up the national No 1 pair with M. Thinaah, was not afraid to share her honest feelings.
"It definitely feels a little weird because she (Meng Yean) was previously my teammate, but now she's coming back as a coach.
"It might take some time before everyone really settles in with that fact.
"Having said that, I do hope she will be able to give us some great advice. Let's see how it goes," Pearly told Timesport.
The writings were on the wall for Meng Yean to leave the national setup following the retirement of her former teammate Chow Mei Kuan.
The two last competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before Mei Kuan hung up her racquet to settle down.
However, Meng Yean stuck around and was even named captain for the 2020 Uber Cup squad in Denmark.
She finally decided to quit the national team after barely making any headway with her new partner Yap Cheng Wen.
This was before Meng Yean dropped a bombshell of making a comeback to the scene, not as a professional as many would have expected, but as a coach.
Meng Yean will join forces with former world junior champion Hoon Thien How, who is in charge of the women's doubles department, while overseen by coaching director Rexy Mainaky.
Meanwhile, Pearly pointed out that next month's German Open and All England will not be easy with the return of players from China, but assured that she and Thinaah are in good shape to face the stern challenges in Europe.
"Although Thinaah was out for a week due to Covid-19, she came back and put in the extra work to catch up.
"I am really happy and proud of her for achieving that. We are definitely on the right track.
"We have targets for the German Open and All England, but the draws are not really in our favour. We need to be consistent and take it one match at a time.
"Most importantly, we want to fight hard against some of the world's best," added Pearly.
For the German Open next week, Pearly-Thinaah will play Scotland's Julie Macpherson-Ciara Torrance in the first round and will likely square off with Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien in the second.
The eight-seeded Malaysians are slated to take on world No 1 Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan of China in the quarter-finals.