UNDERSTRENGTH Malaysia storms into the Chengdu 2024 Thomas Cup semi-finals by crashing Japan 3-1 amid mysterious circumstances as to why the favourite did not play their World No. 5 Kodai Naroka in the first singles.
China which beat Bangkok 2022 defending champion India with a similar scoreline now stands in between Malaysia’s hopes of making into its first finals since 2014 when it lost 2-3 to Denmark. Both teams will clash tomorrow (May 4) at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Centre in Chengdu, China.
Malaysia has somehow proven to be a bogey team to the Japanese badminton squad of late given last night’s (May 2) clash between Malaysia and Japan was a repeat of the semi-finals of the Asia Team Championships in Selangor in February whereby the host nation emerged victorious with an almost similar squad, except for Justin Hoh.
Top national singles shuttler and World No. 10 Lee Zii Jia fired the first salvo in the absence of the talismanic Naroka by crushing Japan’s second-ranked and world No. 11 Kenta Nishimoto 21-13, 21-3 in 33 minutes to register his eighth win in 11 meetings against the Japanese.
However, the momentum faded momentarily as national top doubles pair and World No. 5 of Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik failed to overcome their World No. 6 opponent Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi with the former world champions going down fighting 21-18, 14-21, 19-21 in 67 minutes for Japan to tie the score at 1-1.
This was when unheralded world No. 37 Leong Jun Hao who stepped in for injured Ng Tze Yong outsmarted his higher ranked world No. 22 opponent Koki Watanabe 21-13, 21-10 in a mere 35 minutes.
Even with the odds stacked against him, the 24-year-old Kuala Lumpur-born lad displayed composure which was lacking in his loss against Danish No. 2 Anders Antonsen in the group stage whereby he went down tamely 14-21, 10-21 in 41 minutes (for the record, Malaysia was defeated 2-3 by Denmark).
All in all, it was sweet revenge for the 24-year-old after losing to Watanabe in the semi-finals of the Asia Team Championships in February which Malaysia eventually won 3-1 against Japan.
With the score 2-1 in favour of Malaysia, all hopes were pinned on national second-ranked doubles pair of Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin to seal the victory as the world No. 15 took on Akira Koga-Taichi Saito who is currently ranked as world No. 16.
Having dropped the first game 18-21, there were glimpses of the spot for Malaysia in the semi-finals slipping away with back-up shuttler Justin Hoh likely to face a formidable task to break down former two-time world champion Kento Momota if the tie goes to the decider.
Thankfully, the world No. 15 rebounded in the second game to drag the match into a rubber in which they finally the Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin finally prevailed 18-21, 21-15 and 21-12 in 66 minutes.
This means the 29-year-old Mamota who has decided “to hang his racquet” at the end of the 2024 Thomas Cup tournament following hardship to return to peak form following a car crash on the Maju Expressway in early 2020 has to bid farewell to competitive global badminton without relishing a chance to play his last match. – May 3, 2024
Main image credit: Z 💎🇲🇾 (@theone_xyz)
