PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s lack of depth in their back-up squad was exposed at the Badminton Asia Team Championships – a worrying sign ahead of the Thomas Cup Finals from April 24–May 3 in Horsens, Denmark.
Led by singles shuttler Justin Hoh, Malaysia saw their campaign end after a 0-3 quarter-final defeat to Japan national badminton team at the Qingdao Conson Gymnasium in China yesterday.
Although top doubles pairs such as world No. 2 Aaron Chia–Soh Wooi Yik and world No. 6 Man Wei Chong–Tee Kai Wun were rested, Malaysia were only missing national No. 1 Leong Jun Hao in the singles.
National No. 2 Justin and No. 3 Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin both featured against Japan but failed to deliver points.
Japan, meanwhile, left out their top two singles players Kodai Naraoka and Kenta Nishimoto but yet still proved too strong for the Malaysians.
Justin fought hard against Japan’s No. 3 Yushi Tanaka but lost 17-21, 22-20, 11-21 in 66 minutes.
Aidil got off to a good start too but ran out of steam losing 22-20, 11-21, 3-21 against world No. 23 Koki Watanabe.
Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi had no answers against 2021 world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi and were outclassed 14-21, 12-21 in 35 minutes in the first doubles.
Singles coaching director Kenneth Jonassen acknowledged that the team had a long way to go to challenge the best teams.
“Overall Japan were just too strong and unfortunately we didn’t manage to challenge them enough,” said Jonassen.
“There are many takeaways from this competition. Some positive and others a clear indication on what we need to improve on before we can compete with this group of players against the top teams.
“On the positive side, the players support and team spirit has been strong and a clear team camaraderie has been displayed.”
The defeat to Japan meant that Malaysia will not qualify on merit for the Thomas Cup Finals for the first time since 2016 when the team also missed out on the last four in the Asia team meet.
Malaysia though will still be able to book their spot in Horsens based on their world team rankings of No. 5.
Meanwhile, earlier, Malaysia led by singles shuttler K. Letshanaa were outclassed 0-3 by a full-strength South Korean team led by world No. 1 An Se-young in the women’s team quarter-finals.
Quarter-finals
Men’s team: Japan bt Malaysia 3-0 (Yushi Tanaka bt Justin Hoh 21-17, 20-22, 21-11; Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi bt Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi 21-14, 21-12; Koki Watanabe bt Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin 20-22, 21-11, 21-3).
Women 3-0 (An Se-yona B. Letshanaa 21-11, 21-11; Baek Ha-na-Kim Hyo-jeong Hyme-Carmen Ting 21-13, 21-9; Park Ga-Eun 21-16, 21-12); Indonesia 3-2; China bl India 3-0; Taiwan bpan 3-2
Groupings
Men’s team
Group A: China bt Thailand 3-2
Group B: South Korea bt Taiwan 3-2
Group C: Japan bt India 3-2
Group D: Indonesia bt Malaysia 3-2 (Moh Zaki Ubidillah lost to Justin Hoh 16-21, 19-21; Leo Rollly-Bagas Maula has lasted to Yap Roy King-On Arnik One Junidi 13-21, 21-12, 13-21; 21-12, 14-21, 21-15;
