It will be a tough call in the next Thomas Cup, says Rashid

It will be a tough call for Malaysia in the next Thomas Cup, national Coach, Rashid Sidek said.

"It is difficult to say. In two years time without (Datuk) Lee Chong Wei we will not be so strong. Other teams will be very strong, Indonesia, China and now Japan," he said.

Even in terms of world ranking Malaysia were quite far behind, he said.

Rashid said this when asked if the team could make it to the next Thomas Cup finals in the event Malaysia's ace player, Datuk Lee Chong Wei retires.

"We have to really work hard," he said told reporters after Malaysia lost to Japan 2-3 in the 2014 Thomas Cup final here Sunday night.

Nevertheless, the former Thomas Cup gold medallist said he was satisfied with the team's performance.

"It is unfortunate that we lost, but we tried our best. The opponents were better then us tonight. Our target was only the semifinals and coming to the final itself was a bonus," he said.

Meanwhile, Japan's national coach, Park Joo Bong said:"We are very happy to have won the Thomas Cup for the first time."

"Japan's team concentration was very strong and they were able to take the pressure better than the Malaysian team, he said.