Malaysia failed to achieve their semi-final target in the Thomas Cup Finals at Impact Arena, Bangkok after 3-1 defeat to Indonesia in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
The exit came in the wake of Malaysia’s failure to achieve their quarter-final target in Uber Cup Finals for women.
Despite the exit in the Thomas Cup Finals the nation’s top man’s shuttler, former world number one Lee Chong Wei, remains Malaysia’s best bet for a medal in the coming Asian Games in Indonesia.
The 35-year-old Chong Wei once again showed that he still has plenty of competitive badminton in when he defeated Indonesia’s rising star Anthony Ginting in the first singles 21-19, 21-16 in 49 minutes for Malaysia’s only point.
A day earlier Chong Wei had snuffed out current world number one and world champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in a Group D match. The Danes won the final group match 3-2 to finish on top.
However, Chong Wei made heads turn at Impact Arena with his “energetic” highly level badminton.
His win over Ginting was his second in two months, having beaten the Indonesian at the Badminton Asia Championships in Wuhan, China in April.
“At the Asian meet I needed three games to beat him…but here I won in straight games,” said Chong Wei after his win.
The morale-boosting win by Chong Wei, however, did no motivate Malaysia’s top doubles pair Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong, who lost in three-games 19-21, 22-20, 13-21 to Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in 55 minutes.
Malaysia fell 1-2 behind in the tie when second singles Lee Zii Jia gave an erratic performance during the 48 minutes he was on the court for his match against Christie Jonathan. The Indonesian, ranked 55, won 21-15, 11-21, 21-13.
Any hopes of a fightback by Malaysia disappeared in the second doubles when Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto defeated Aaron Chia-Teo Ee Yi 21-18, 10-21, 21-19. RIZAL ABDULLAH
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