PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah are looking increasingly likely to renew their contracts with the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM).

Pearly-Thinaah’s contracts with BAM ended last December and the pair are edging closer to signing new deals after months of speculation regarding their futures.

BAM secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh said talks with the pair have been progressing positively.

“We have had positive talks with Pearly-Thinaah and we want the best possible outcome,” said Kenny at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara yesterday.

“Their contract situation will be resolved before they leave for the Japan Open (July 15-20).”

Pearly-Thinaah will leave for the Japan tourney this weekend and are expected to sign new deals before that.

The breakthrough comes a week after BAM president Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz met with the world No. 3 pair to try to resolve their futures.

With their contract situation close to being resolved, Pearly-Thinaah will be looking to turn their attentions fully to the Japan tourney.

In the draw released yesterday, the duo will open their campaign in Tokyo against Bulgarian sisters Gabriela Stoeva-Stefani Stoeva, who are ranked No. 16 in the world.

A victory will likely see Pearly-Thinaah play Taiwan’s Hsieh Pei-shan-Hung En-tzu in the second round.

The former will be out to continue their strong form after finishing runners-up in their last outing in the Indonesian Open in Jakarta last month.

Pearly-Thinaah also captured their first title of the year in the Thailand Open in Bangkok in May.

Meanwhile, the other women’s doubles pairs in action for Malaysia in Japan will be world No. 22 Teoh Mei Xing-Go Pei Kee and world No. 42 Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting.

Both pairs have been handed difficult opening round matches with the former taking on South Korea’s world No. 4 Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee and the latter going up against world No. 6 homesters Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi.