2026 Asian Team Championship: Upset Results & Malaysia vs Japan

BOLASPORT.COM – Malaysia is on the brink of defeat after minor results in the first two matches against Japan in the 2026 Asian Team Championship.

Most recently, Malaysian men’s doubles, Junaidi Arif/Roy King Yap, were crushed in two straight games against former world number one pair, Takuro Hoki/Kobayashi.

Arif/Yap were helpless and lost with a score of 13-21, 12-21 in the match which was held at Qingdao Conson Gymnasium, China, Friday (6/2/2026).

These results mean that Malaysia is currently 0-2 behind Japan.

In the first match, their first men’s singles player, Justin Hoh, lost via rubber game against Japan’s representative, Yushi Tanaka, with a score of 17-21, 22-20, 11-21.

In fact, yesterday Justin Hoh and Arif/Yap opened up the neighboring country’s hopes for a comeback against Indonesia in the group stage.

Hoh successfully beat Moh Zaki Ubaidillah while Arif/Yap stopped Leo Rolly Carnando/Bagas Maulana to give Malaysia a 2-0 lead.

However, today what happened was the opposite.

In the men’s doubles match, Arif/Yap actually appeared quite solid at the start of the match after forcing the score to remain level at 7-7.

However, the intensity of the attacks from Hoki/Kobayashi managed to put pressure on the pair taught by Herry Iman Pierngadi.