PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Pearly Tan is not daunted by the challenge facing her and partner M. Thinaah after taking over as the national No. 1 women’s doubles pair.

The world No. 19 Pearly-Thinaah found themselves being pushed to the forefront following the retirement of Chow Mei Kuan, who played in her last match with long-time partner Lee Meng Yean at last month’s Tokyo Olympics.

The absence of world No. 11 Mei Kuan-Meng Yean has weakened the national team ahead of two major assignments – the Sudirman Cup in Vaanta, Finland (Sept 26-Oct 3) and the Uber Cup Finals in Aarhus, Denmark (Oct 9-17).

Pearly, 21, and Thinaah, 23, may have enjoyed a meteoric rise in the first half of this year which saw them winning their first title at Swiss Open in March, but they have not played in many top-level competitions.

Pearly is taking it all in her stride.

“It doesn’t matter whether we’re the national No. 1 or 2. Whenever we go out there to represent Malaysia, the aim is always the same – to bring glory to the country,” she said.

“The status is not important at all. Thinaah and I have been working very hard to raise our game in order to match the world’s top pairs.

“In fact, I’m so looking forward to playing against top pairs in these major events. It has been five months since we last played at the All-England. We’re raring to go.”Pearly-Thinaah first rose to prominence when they delivered the winning point in the second doubles that helped Malaysia beat Taiwan 3-1 to seal qualification to the Uber Cup Finals by virtue of being the top four finishers of the Asia Team Championships.

It was the first time that Malaysia had qualified on merit for the Finals since 2008.

Besides the Swiss Open triumph, Pearly-Thinaah’s other impressive results this year include reaching the quarter-finals of the two Thailand Opens in January and All-England.

In these tournaments, they managed to upset two world’s top 10 pairs Chan Ye-na-Kim Hye-rin of South Korea and Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai of Thailand.

Pearly-Thinaah are expected to face world No. 3 Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara from Japan and world No. 14 Lauren Smith-Chloe Birch of England in the group stage of the Sudirman Cup while they will most likely be pitted in the first doubles tie with Tokyo Olympics silver medallists Cheng Qingchen-Jia Yifan of China and world No. 16 Maiken Fruegaard-Sara Thygesen of Denmark in the Uber Cup.