KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — It looks like national women’s doubles player, M. Thinaah has to forgo the Deepavali celebration after her partner, Pearly Tan was cleared to play in the 2022 Denmark Open.

Apart from Denmark Open, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) doubles coaching director, Rexy Mainaky confirmed that the current world number 11 pair will also feature in the 2022 French Open.

“Yes,” Rexy told Bernama in a brief Whatsapp reply, today.

The Denmark Open will be held in Odense from Oct 18-23 and the French Open in Paris from Oct 25-30 while Deepavali falls on Oct 24.

Previously, the top national duo were still doubtful for the two European tournaments as Pearly was still recovering from a hamstring injury sustained at the Japan Open earlier last month.

In the Denmark Open, Pearly-Thinaah will be facing Thai pair Supissara Paewsampran-Puttita Suppajirakul, followed by a clash against Malaysia Open reigning champion, Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia in the French Open.

While Pearly rejoiced over the news, things did not go well for another national women’s doubles player, Anna Cheong Ching Yik after the latter revealed that she was suffering from anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) on her right knee.

As such, Anna said her ACL injury puts a big question mark on her chances to participate in the 2022 Hylo Open in Saarbrucken, Germany from Nov 1-6 with her partner, Teoh Mei Xing.

“I found out about the ACL following an injury after I stepped on one of the players’ foot during a training session recently. When we did the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanning, the medical team detected the ACL which I may have had for quite some time,” she said.

However, Anna said there was no surgery needed for her to recover from ACL at the moment as she was advised to undergo a rehabilitation process by strengthening the muscle to protect the injury from aggravating further.

“Of course, I feel down, but I am glad to know that I have my coach and my physio team, as well as my partner Mei Xing to help me get back to court…they didn’t give up on me and I cannot lose hope,” she said. — Bernama