KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — National number one women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan have withdrawn from the Malaysia Masters 2026, which kicks off tomorrow and continues until Sunday (May 24) at the Unifi Arena in Bukit Jalil.
The latest development was confirmed by the Badminton Association of Malaysia, which attributed this to Tan's injury.
“The Badminton Association of Malaysia confirms that Pearly Tan has withdrawn from the Malaysia Masters 2026 due to a recurring back injury,” it said in a Facebook post.
Previously, Tan had also withdrawn from representing the country at the 2026 Uber Cup Finals in Horsens, Denmark.
Malaysia’s hope on women’s doubles now hinges on the up-and-coming pair and seventh seeds Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting, as well as Chong Jie Yu-Vanessa Ng.
Ong-Ting will open their campaign against Hsieh Yi En-Teng Chun Hsun from Taiwan, while Chong-Ng will play Chen Yan Fei-Liang Ching Sun, also from Taiwan, in the opening round.
The Super 500 tournament offers a total prize purse of US$500,000 (RM 1.98 million).
Meanwhile, national women's doubles head coach Rosman Razak said it was still too early to allow Tan to return to the court, even though her recovery process is progressing well.
He said the decision was also reached after discussions with national doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky.
“We do not want to take a major risk, considering there are still many major tournaments that she will be participating in after this. We understand the sentiment and high expectations to see them play on home soil, but this decision was made to ensure Pearly's recovery process is at its absolute best,” he said in a separate statement.
Rosman added that Tan-Thinaah's participation status at the 2026 Singapore Open from May 26 to May 31, followed by the 2026 Indonesia Open from June 2 to June 7, also remains uncertain.
“Pearly and Thinaah's participation in the Singapore Open and Indonesia Open will still depend on Pearly's current condition and fitness level,” he said.
