Malaysia lost again to Japan in a final group tie at the Sudirman Cup badminton championship being played in China, a result which will see the country facing a tougher opponent in the quarter-final knockout stage.
Malaysia ended the group matches as runners-up in Group C and will meet the winners of Group D, most likely Indonesia, provided Denmark – who have also qualified for the quarter-finals – do not cause an upset.
Victory over Japan, who have now taken a 9-2 lead over Malaysia in the Sudirman Cup campaign, would have put Malaysia in the top spot in Group C. The last time Malaysia beat Japan in the competition was in 2006.
The final score was 2-3 in favour of Japan, despite Malaysia taking an early 2-0 lead with their mixed doubles pair and men’s singles players winning their respective matches.
However, they lost the remaining women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles ties.
It was also a heartbreaking moment for the Malaysians when men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik held match point twice in their tie against Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi with Malaysia leading 2-1, but the duo lost to the Japanese eventually.
Mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei got Malaysia to a winning start when they defeated the top Japanese duo Hiroki Midorikawa-Arisa Igarashi 21-19, 21-18 in 39 minutes to give the national team a 1-0 lead.
Men’s singles player Leong Jun Hao increased Malaysia’s lead to 2-0 when he defeated Japan’s world No 8 Kodai Naraoka in three games. The world No 26, who is Malaysia’s captain, overcame his more fancied opponent 21-8, 13-21, 21-18 in 68 minutes.
Japan managed to reduce the deficit when their world No 8 women’s singles player Tomoka Miyazaki defeated Goh Jin Wei, who is ranked No 46. As expected, the Japanese player won in straight games of 21-14, 21-17.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, who were expected to clinch the winning point for Malaysia, came up against a tenacious Hoki-Kobayashi combination, who saved two match points in the last two games to win 12-21, 22-20, 23-21 in a pulsating match lasting about 70 minutes.
In the deciding match, Pearly Tan-M Thinaah did their best but it was not enough to overcome world No 2 pair Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida, who have now beaten them 12 times in 13 encounters.
The Malaysians lost 18-21, 21-18, 18-21 to give Japan their 3-2 victory.
