KUALA LUMPUR: After women's pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah landed in the group of death, national coaching director Rexy Mainaky said there is no such thing as an easy draw at the Olympics.
The former Olympic gold medallist (men's doubles) said Pearly-Thinaah shouldn't expect an easy draw as this is the Olympics.
In the Olympic draw conducted by the Badminton World Federation in Kuala Lumpur today, Pearly-Thinaah ended up in Group A with China's
world No. 1 Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan, Japan's world No. 6 Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara and Indonesia's World No. 9 Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti.
Rexy said he hopes that world No. 13 Pearly-Thinaah, who are newcomers to the Olympics, will compete with a nothing-to-lose attitude.
"They (Pearly-Thinaah) have to realise that to win (in Paris), you should not hope for an easy group
"I believe they can get out of the group, and that will boost their confidence," said Rexy.
However, Pearly-Thinaah have a poor record against Qing Chen-Yi Fan, having lost five times in six meetings. Their only win was in the second round of the All England in March.
They have a 3-2 win-loss record against Matsumoto-Nagahara, and it's 3-3 against Apriyani-Siti Fadia.
Only the top two pairs in the group will advance to the quarter-finals.