Kumamoto: Malaysia's top women's doubles pair, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah, got their Kumamoto Masters Japan 2025 campaign off to a strong start by coming back from a game down to overcome their Japanese rivals at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, today.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, first-seeded Pearly-Thinaah powered through the 18-21 loss of the first game to win the next two games 21-9 and 21-17, securing victory over Mikoto Aiso and Momoha Niimi of Japan in a 53-minute thriller. Pearly and Thinaah will next face South Korea's Jeong Na Eun and Lee Yeon Woo, whom they have defeated in all three of their previous encounters.

In the men's singles, national shuttler Kok Jing Hong also cruised past India's Kiran George 22-20, 21-10 to book his place in the round of 16 and set up a meeting with sixth-seeded Kenta Nishimoto of Japan. Meanwhile, in the mixed doubles, Jimmy Wong and Lai Pei Jing advanced after a composed 21-19, 21-15 win over Taiwan's Ming Che Lu and Hung En-Tzu and will take on the seventh seeds, Ye Hong Wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan of Taiwan next.

Meanwhile, another Malaysian men's singles shuttler, Leong Jun Hao, bowed out of the tournament after a closely contested match against India's Prannoy H.S, losing 21-16, 13-21, 21-23. In the women's singles, Wong Ling Ching advanced to the next round with a 21-16, 21-11 victory over Japan's Nanaho Kondo. She will face Canada's Michelle Li in the Round of 16.