Pearly-Thinaah can deal with any issues - Hannah

Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh – FILE PIX

KUALA LUMPUR – Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh believes that national women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah can deal with any misunderstanding, if any, between them.

She said that as experienced shuttlers, who are also in the Road to Gold (RTG) programme, they should be able to work out any issues that crop up.

“I have not been following any reports about them. I think there’s no problem because they are not newcomers, they have been a pair for a long time.

“So, I believe this is something they can definitely deal with,” she said when met by Bernama at the Segambut parliamentary constituency Deepavali and Cultural Night celebration here yesterday.

National badminton fans have been speculating that there is something amiss between Pearly and Thinaah after the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallists barely spoke to each other en route to losing 11-21, 21-15, 20-22 to South Koreans Jeong Na Eun-Kim Hye Jeong in the first round of the China Masters last Wednesday (Nov 22).

However, Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM) coaching director Rexy Mainaky was reported to have said that he would meet both players and women’s doubles coach Hoon Thien How to find out what happened.

Meanwhile, Hannah, who is also the Segambut Member of Parliament, said most of the allocation for her constituency had been used to repair and upgrade schools for the comfort of students.

She said that among the schools were Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT) Segambut, which received RM69,000, and SJK (T) Ladang Edinburgh which was given RM163,000 – BERNAMA