KUALA LUMPUR: At national level they never trained together for the mixed doubles but Man Wei Chong-Pearly Tan produced the biggest upset in the Malaysia Masters when they toppled Indonesian World No 5 Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva Oktavianti in the first round at the Axiata Arena today.
Wei Chong-Pearly, who only play in the mixed doubles as an additional event when competing in international tournaments, secured a 21-18, 21-13 win over Praveen-Melati.
“We never train for the mixed doubles but we have been playing in International Challenge tournaments. We didn’t expect at all to beat the Indonesian pair,” said Wei Chong, who are ranked only ranked World No 89 with Pearly,
“We don’t want to think too far about becoming Malaysia’s next best pair in the mixed doubles.”
Wei Chong partners Chi Weijie in the men’s doubles while Pearly has been having greater success with M. Thinaah in the women’s doubles.
Pearly-Thinaah have won the India and Bangladesh International Challenge titles as well as the Malaysia International series last year.
Despite the “double duty”, Pearly said she will continue playing in both events.
“I have the energy to play in both events and will leave it to the coach to decide on continuing to play in the mixed doubles,” said Pearly.
“I was quite nervous before the match yesterday but I managed to play well while our opponents were not at their best.”
Wei Chong-Pearly will be up against another Indonesia pair Hafiz Faizal-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in the second round.
Pearly also advanced to the second round of the women’s doubles with Thinaah after beating compatriots Anna Cheong-Lim Chew Sien 21-15, 21-10 yesterday and will play Indonesia’s eighth seeds Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu in the second round today.