KUALA LUMPUR: While their indomitable spirit has been their hallmark, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah will be really powerful if they improve their physical strength.
This is the observation of Japan's women's doubles coach Karel Mainaky.
Karel, who has been handling Japan's team B since 2015, was instrumental in turning Rin Iwanaga-Kei Nakanishi into an elite pair and their rise to women's doubles World No. 6 this year.
The duo have won five titles - the Spanish Masters, Malaysian Masters, US Open, Canadian Open and Denmark Open - this year.
Iwanaga-Nakanishi have played Pearly-Thinaah six times, and this is the main reason why Karel is able to gauge the Malaysian pair's level.
There were two recent clashes in Europe last month where Pearly-Thinaah overcame Iwanaga-Nakanishi in one hour and 42 minutes in the Arctic Open semi-final (21-19, 19-21, 26-24) but lost to the same pair in the quarter-final of the Denmark Open after a 57-minute battle (22-20, 21-19).
Pearly-Thinaah had mentioned about mental and physical fatigue after the defeat in Denmark.
Karel, whose elder brother is Rexy Mainaky (Malaysia's coaching director), admires Pearly-Thinaah's battling qualities, but he believes they are slightly fragile physically.
"I have always admired Pearly-Thinaah's fighting spirit as they have achieved some unbelievable victories because of this quality. I think they can do even better by improving their physical strength," said Karel.
"Physical strength is very crucial if they want to challenge the top pairs from China.
"Japanese women's doubles are also very strong physically, and this is why they are able to challenge the Chinese combinations.
"Iwanaga-Nakanishi lost to Pearly-Thinaah in the Arctic Open, but beat them in Denmark a week later. This is all due to their better physical condition.
"Pearly-Thinaah have the skills and are top class, and if they can push a little bit more on the physical side, they can become very solid."
Pearly-Thinaah can expect more duels against Iwanaga-Nakanishi and several strong China pairs in future and will have to be prepared physically to last the pace.
This could be an area in which the new national women's doubles chief coach, Rosman Razak, can look into when he begins his duties officially at the Academy Badminton Malaysia tomorrow.