Uber Cup: Early exit but there is still hope

BANGKOK: The performance of the national Uber Cup 2022 squad who had to 'pack their bags early' after being eliminated in the group stage is not something that comes as a surprise to Malaysian sports fans..

In fact, many did not have high hopes on the women's squad to spring a surprise by qualifying for the quarterfinals after being drawn alongside two big teams, Thailand and Denmark in Group C, due to the performance of the shuttlers who have not been shining brightly lately.

Despite failing to make it to the quarterfinals after last doing so in the 2010 edition, there is still a ray of hope for the women's squad to provide better competition in the future.

Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) Singles Coaching Director Wong Choong Hann said based on his assessment, several newbies such as Myisha Mohd Khairul, 19, and Tan Zhing Yi, 18, showed positive performances and had a bright future ahead..

He said the two players stole his attention based on the pattern of their game as well as the encouraging performance displayed despite facing shuttlers who are much higher ranked than them.

"Myisha and Zhing Yi show promise and are technically very impressive, even though they have just been promoted from junior to senior.

"We will continue to train them to become stronger shuttlers but I believe they both need a little more time to become better players," he told Bernama.

Although Myisha's involvement in the national badminton scene was seen to have just opened the eyes of the public after winning the Dutch International Series 2022 last month, Choong Hann said her achievement was proof that BAMwas right in exposing younger shuttlers.

"Myisha used to be a nobody, what was her achievement at the junior level before this? People see Myisha suddenly stand out but they don't know that we have actually exposed her before, " he said.

Therefore, he said BAM were indeed accelerating the pace to provide appropriate exposure to the younger players in an effort to improve their performance in the future and was confident that the strategy would show a positive impact in a year or two.

Myisha, who was given the opportunity to play in all three Group C matches, recorded a victory against Doha Hany of Egypt 21-5, 21-19, yesterday besides showing a commendable performance even though losing to Line Kjaerfeldt of Denmark 12-21, 9-21, as well host shuttler Pornpawee Chochuwong 20-22, 10-21.

Zhing Yi showed high fighting spirit despite losing to Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand 21-19, 21-6 but ended her challenge with a victory over Nour Ahmed Youssri of Egypt, 21-12, 21-14.

Meanwhile, Choong Hann was satisfied with the performance of the country's top women's singles player, S. Kisona even though the 2019 SEA Games champion did not manage to record a victory in the sole match she played against Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark which saw her lose 14-21, 15-21.

He said, Kisona may have been burdened to shoulder the responsibility as the country's main singles player after the absence of Soniia Cheah as well as Goh Jin Wei who chose a professional path and was still struggling to show her best performance, especially against the best players in the world.

In this regard, he said Kisona was still the main player for the women's squad and it would be unfair to drop her because he believed she needed enough time to return to her best performance after winning the SEA Games gold in Manila almost three years ago.

At the same time, he was also happy with the performance shown by Jin Wei who sometimes played like in her heyday when she was the world junior champion twice, in 2015 and 2018.

"Overall, the Bangkok squad are better and more balanced than the last edition at Aarhus, even though they were eliminated in the group stage again," he added.

Meanwhile, Doubles Coaching Director Rexy Mainaky admitted that Anna Ching Yik Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing's second national doubles defeat against Denmark's Alexandre Boje-Amelie Magelund 14-21, 10-21 was a big blow to the team who were leading 'The Valkyrie' 2-1 before failing to capitalise on the advantage and end up losing 2-3.

"I saw they wanted to beat Denmark so much that they failed to release the potential they actually had on court," he said.

As such, he said the game featuring Anna-Mei Xing did not succeed in meeting the standards he set but praised the performance of the lead pair, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah, who maintained a clean sheet, recording two consecutive victories when playing against Denmark and Thailand.

Pearly-Thinaah beat Danish pair Maiken Fruergaard-Sara Thygesen 21-19, 21-19 and came from behind to disappoint Thai pair Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai 16-21, 21-19, 21-17.

The former Indonesian doubles specialist believes that there is still much to be done to improve the performance of the country's women players but is confident that they will be able to record a proud achievement in the next edition in Chengdu, China.

-- BERNAMA