KUALA LUMPUR: Women's pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah may just sneak out from their "group of death" at the Paris Olympics.
That's the belief of Olympic silver medallist Goh Liu Ying if Pearly-Thinaah get their act right.
She feels that the pressure will be on China's top seeds Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan in Group A. The other two pairs in the group are Japan's world No. 6 Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara and Indonesia's world No. 9 Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti.
All of them are ranked higher than the world No. 13 ranked Malaysian duo.
Fans and pundits all say that Pearly-Thinaah face an uphill task. Only the top two pairs in the group will advance to the quarter-finals.
Liu Ying, 35, said Pearly-Thinaah should not feel inferior as world rankings at the Olympics are "not really important".
"I believe that the Chinese pair (Qing Chen-Yi Fan) have more pressure on their shoulders after getting this draw," said Liu Ying who won a mixed doubles silver with Chan Peng Soon at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
"Qing Chen-Yi Fan's performance is quite consistent, but with the added pressure at the Olympics, anything can happen."
Liu Ying said Pearly-Thinaah, who are making their Olympic debut, must be both mentally and physically prepared.
"Even though Pearly-Thinaah have a good record against Matsumoto-Nagahara (3-2) and Apriyani-Siti Fadia (3-3) those matches weren't straight sets victories.
"Those matches took almost an hour each, so mentally and physically they need to be in top condition. Only then can you think about your gameplan," added Liu Ying,