BATC: M'sian men's team thrash Singapore 5-0, women's book Uber Cup ticket

SHAH ALAM: The Malaysian camp must be on cloud nine after winning both their men's and women's group matches at the Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) 2022 here today.

The men's team started their Group B campaign at the Setia City Convention Centre with a 5-0 win over neighbours Singapore, while the women continued their winning momentum by edging India 3-2 to secure a semi-final ticket as Group Y champions, as well as qualify for the Uber Cup on merit.

National top men's singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia, ranked seventh in the world, displayed splendid form to outclass world champion Loh Kean Yew 21-6, 21-14 in just 30 minutes to deliver the first point.

The win also ended Zii Jia's two-match losing streak against his childhood nemesis, in the 2021 French Open and the 2021 Hylo Open final in Germany when he was forced to withdraw as a result of injury, in their five meetings in total.

Tokyo 2020 Olympics bronze medallists Aaron Chia-So Wooi Yik doubled the lead for Malaysia after edging scratch pair Danny Bawa Chrisnanta-Wesley Koh Eng Keat 21-14, 21-12.

In the third match, the 200-strong home crowd was forced to go through nerve-wracking moments as 21-year-old Ng Tze Yong recovered from a bad start to overcome Jason Teh Jia Heng in a battle that lasted one hour and 18 minutes.

After losing the first game 17-21 and trailing for most of the second game, the Scottish Open champion managed to win 24-22, 21-19 to clinch the winning point for runners-up Malaysia.

"I think I was not confident because I didn't have sufficient preparations with only one week's training. But I managed to gain back my confidence and rhythm in the second and third games. I definitely did not want to give up before the match was over," he told reporters after the match.

Second doubles Goh Sze Fei- Nur Izzuddin Mohd Rumsani easily disposed of Terry Hee Yong Kai- Andy Kwek Jun Liang 21-10, 21-13 in less than 30 minutes, before Leong Jun Hao gave Malaysia a clean slate by defeating Joel Koh Jia Wei 21-17, 22-20.

In the women's tie, S. Kisona finally ended her eight-match losing streak in all competitions after beating Aakarshi Kashyap 21-16, 18-21, 21-16 in more than an hour to give Malaysia the first point.

Kisona's last win was when bagging the Spanish International title defeating compatriot Goh Jin Wei in June last year.

Scratch pair Valeree Siow Zi Xuan-Pearly Tan extended the lead by smashing Khushi Gupta-Mehreen Riza 21-1, 21-6, but 18-year-old Siti Nurshuhaini Azman, who prevailed in yesterday's win over Japan, went down to Ashmita Chaliha 11-21, 19-21.

Malaysia, however, sealed victory when Syed Modi International winners Anna Ching Yik Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing ousted Arul Bala Radhakrishnan-Nila Valluvan 21-10, 21-12, while Myisha Mohd Khairul lost to Tara Shah 16-21, 15-21.

"We are happy to have won. The opposition was young, so we focused on getting one point at a time. The important thing is this win has helped Malaysia qualify for the Uber Cup on merit," said Mei Xing.

On Saturday's semi-finals, she said they prefer to play Japan or Indonesia rather than South Korea, who are stronger in the doubles.

Yesterday, Malaysia beat defending champions Japan 3-2.

-- BERNAMA