KUALA LUMPUR: Women's doubles shuttler M. Thinaah believes she and Pearly Tan will eventually return to their best after enduring a challenging start to their 2024 campaign.
The world No. 12 were eliminated early for the second straight week, losing 21-16, 21-13 to Japan's Chiharu Shida-Nami Matsuyama at the India Open on Thursday.
In the Malaysia Open last week, Pearly-Thinaah were defeated in the opening hurdle by eventual champions Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning of China.
The outcome in New Delhi could prove detrimental to their current ranking position as they failed to defend the points secured by being semi-finallists last year.
Moreover, the poor start by Pearly-Thinaah is certainly a cause for concern, given that the Paris Olympics are just less than seven months away.
They also ended 2023 on a sour note, losing in the first round of the China Masters in November.
However, Thinaah assured that they will find a solution to fix their decline in performance and confidence.
"There's always a solution to everything. We just need trust ourselves and work things out," said Thinaah.
Despite back-to-back early exits, Pearly, who overcame several injury setbacks last year, feels upbeat about her physical condition and believes she will be back in optimal shape.
"I am not at the level I would like to for now, but it's going on the right track," said Pearly.
"Everything is okay, I just have to keep putting in effort to help with (injury) prevention and rebuild my muscles."
Pearly-Thinaah played their best badminton in 2022, claiming the French Open and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games titles.