KUALA LUMPUR: The odds may heavily favour women's pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah's Japanese nemeses Chiharu Shida-Nami Matsuyama in their World Tour Finals (WTF) opener, but pundit Datuk James Selvaraj insists no match is decided on paper.
World No. 6 Pearly-Thinaah have struggled against the world No. 4 Japanese since their rivalry began in 2020, managing just one victory in 11 encounters.
Shida-Matsuyama also delivered what was perhaps Pearly-Thinaah's most devastating defeat four months ago, denying them the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
Veteran coach Rosman Razak faces the challenge of devising a winning strategy to avoid an opening day setback that could prove crucial to the Malaysian duo's group-stage campaign.
The Japanese pair's dominance is evident in their head-to-head record, having won eight of their last nine matches in straight games.
However, James remains unconvinced of Shida-Matsuyama's certainty to win.
"Pearly-Thinaah should forget about their past records. This is a fresh match, just go in with a positive mindset to win," said the former BAM technical director.
"The main focus for them is to discard the tendency of making unforced errors. Pearly-Thinaah play well but can suddenly start losing points. This has to stop.
"The Japanese pair are very precise with their strokes. But no pair can keep on winning all the time and Pearly-Thinaah can turn things around with a positive approach."
In Group B, Pearly-Thinaah will also face China's Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning and India's Treesha Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand. The Malaysian duo have yet to progress beyond the group stage in their previous appearances in 2021 and 2022.
In men's doubles, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik begin their Group B campaign against China's Thomas Cup heroes Ren Xiang Yu-He Ji Ting, while Nur Izzuddin Rumsani-Goh Sze Fei face Denmark's Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in Group A.
The mixed doubles will see an all-Malaysian clash in Group B between Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie.