KUALA LUMPUR: After the high of the Hong Kong last week, women's pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah came back down to earth today (Sept 19).
The Malaysian Olympic semi-finalists, who were also runners-up in the recent Korea Open, crashed out in the China Open second round in Changzhou.
World No. 8 Pearly-Thinaah lost to China's world No. 18 Li Yi Jing-Luo Xu Min 21-16, 21-18 in 36 minutes.
Yi Jing-Xu Min, ranked only No. 5 in China, handled the draught at the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium better than Pearly-Thinaah.
Yi Jing-Xu Min were effective in capitalising on their homeground advantage and familiarity with the notorious draught.
"We were quite slow in anticipating our opponents and there was some misunderstanding between us going for several 50-50 shots. We have to learn from this," said Thinaah.
Despite their early exit, Pearly-Thinaah have been performing creditably, and only men's pair, world No. 5 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, who won their second Olympic bronze in Paris, can claim to have done better this season.
Although fatigue may have also contributed to their defeat, Pearly felt that the ability to adapt better to the draught had been a plus factor for the China pair.
"They controlled their rallies well, whether they were playing with or against the draught. This has been the difference," said Pearly.
Pearly-Thinaah will next compete in the Arctic Open (Oct 8-13) and Denmark Open (Oct 15-20).