His wife Datin Latifah, a dialysis patient, was admitted to hospital on Tuesday and has since been discharged, but nevertheless added pressure to Malaysia’s national singles head coach Datuk Misbun Sidek who is in Alor Setar in the on-going E-Plus Badminton Asia Team Championships.
On the same day Malaysia’s hopes of finishing on top of the group took a dive when the team crashed to a 3-2 defeat to Thailand in a Group C match.
However, Malaysia are back in the running with a 5-0 whitewash of Myanmar on Wednesday but face a daunting task after Chinese Taipei registered a 3-2 win over the Thais – which leaves Malaysia a tricky encounter against Chinese Taipei on Thursday.
Malaysia need a big win to qualify as Thailand have an easier match against winless Myanmar.
Malaysia rested their world number two and first singles Lee Chong Wei. Also rested were Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong – the number one doubles pair.
Lee Zii Jia played first singles – the first time he played the role in a team event – and the local Kedah lad responded with an easy 21-3, 21-10 win over Naing Phone Pyae in 20 minutes.
Soong Joo Ven got his first taste of the tournament and won his second singles match with an equally impressive 21-9, 21-7 victory over Aung Myo Htoo Myo before third singles Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin made it 3-0 when he rolled to a comprehensive 21-10, 21-10 scoreline against Chan Win Oo Win.
Malaysia completed the rout by winning the two doubles through Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi and Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani.
“I always have sleepless night when there is a tournament, let it be a team event or an individual event…thinking of match strategies. When you have your spouse or a family member who is not well it adds to the situation,” Misbun who is known as Bun.
In the same breath Misbun believes that “when you are sincere in your service to the nation everything falls nicely to complete the jigsaw” which enables him to get some good and peaceful sleep.
As for the match against Chinese Taipei, Misbun said he will decide on the right lineup to get his strategies.: BADMINTON ASIA
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RESULTS (Feb 7)
GROUP C
Malaysia beat Myanmar 5-0
(Malaysia first)
MS1: Lee Zii Jia beat Naing Phone Pyae 21-3, 21-10
MS2: Soong Joo Ven beat Aung Myo Htoo Myo 21-9, 21-7
MS3: Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin beat Chan Win Oo Win 21-10, 21-10
MD1: Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ei Yi beat Phone Myat Arkar-Toe Hein Si Thu 21-5, 21-5
MD2: Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani beat Aung Myo Htoo Myo-Chan Win Oo Win 21-12, 21-9
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Chinese Taipei beat Thailand 3-2
(Chinese Taipei first)
MS1: Wang Tzu Wei lost to Khosit Phetpradab 19-21, 17-21
MD1: Lee Jhe-huei-Lee Yang beat Kittinupong Kedren-Dechapol Puavaranukroh 21-16, 21-7
Hsu Jen-hao beat Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-17, 21-16
MD2: Lu Ching-yao-Yang Po-han beat Tinn Isriyanet-Kittisak Namdash 21-15, 21-17
MS3: Lin Yu-hsien lost to Pannawit Thingnuam 18-21, 19-21
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GROUP D
Indonesia beat Philippines 5-0
(Indonesia first)
MS1: Christie Jonatan beat Ros Leonard Pedrosa 21-15, 21-13
MD1: Mohammad Ahsan-Rian Agung Saputro beat Carlos Antonie Cayanan-Philip Joper Escueta 21-16, 21-11
MS2: Anthony Ginting beat Arthur Samuel Salvado 21-14, 21-9
MD2: Angga Pratama-Hendra Setiawan beat Peter Gabriel Magnaye-Alvin Morada 21-17, 21-16
MS3: Ihsan Maulana Mustofa beat Lanz Ralf Zafra 21-8, 21-12
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India beat Maldives 5-0
(India first)
MS1: K. Srikanth beat Hussein Zayan Shaheed 21-5, 21-6
MS2: B. Sai Praneeth beat Ahmed Nibal 21-10, 21-4
MS3: Sameer Verma beat Mohamed ARsalaan Ali 21-5, 21-1
MD1: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty beat Hussein Zayan Shaheed-Hassan Afsheem Shaheem 21-8, 21-8
MD2: M.R. Arjun-Ramchandran Shlok beat Mohamed Arsalaan Ali-Ahmed Nibal 21-2, 21-5
