It was a gallant performance from Malaysia but not good enough to beat defending champions Denmark as the Danes clinched a 3-2 win in their final Group D match in the Thomas Cup Finals in Bangkok which ended at around 2 am Malaysian time on Thursday.
With the win, Denmark topped Group D and will be one of the four seeded teams when a fresh draw is made for the quarter-finals. As one of the second-placed teams in the groups Malaysia will now face either favourite China, Indonesia or Japan for a place in the semi-finals.
For Malaysia, it was heartbreak when third singles Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin failed to clinch the third point. After taking the first game at 21-16, Iskandar, ranked 50, lost the second and third games 17-21, 14-21 in an 80-minute battle.
Earlier, a highly motivated Lee Chong Wei stunned current world No 1 and world champion Viktor Axelsen 21-9, 21-19 to end his three-match back to back defeats against the Dane.
The first game was a breeze for the 35-year-old Malaysian but it was a touch and go affair in the second before he wrapped it up at 21-19.
Later Chong Wei revealed that he has never lost to Axelsen in a team event and he was motivated not to lose the match at Impact Arena for a morale-boosting first point for Malaysia.
However, it was all square when Denmark won the first doubles through Mads Conrad-Petersen-Mads Pieler Kolding who lost the opening game 22-24 but clinched the next two at 21-15, 21-15.
Malaysia was back in front again with youngster Lee Zii Jia clinching a surprise 21-18, 21-18 win over Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, Denmark’s hero in their 3-2 win over Indonesia in the final two years ago. Zii Jia’s victory is all the more remarkable as he came back from 6-16 down in the second game for his win.
Scratch-pair Aaron Chia-Teo Ee Yi gave a good account of themselves before losing to Mathias Boe-Mathias Christiansen 21-19, 10-21, 18-21 in the second doubles that left both teams tied at 2-2.
It was left to Iskandar in the deciding third singles to try and win the vital point. Iskandar fought tooth and nail but could not stop veteran Jorgensen and a former world number two, from clinching the third point for his team. RIZAL ABDULLAH
THOMAS CUP RESULTS
GROUP D
Denmark 3 Malaysia 2
(Denmark first)
MS1: Viktor Axelsen lost to Lee Chong Wei 9-21, 19-21
MD1: Mads Conrad-Petersen-Mads Pieler Kolding beat Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong 22-24, 21-15, 21-15
MS2: Hans-Kristian Vittinghus lost to Lee Zii Jia 18-21, 18-21
MD2: Mathias Boe-Mathias Christiansen beat Aaron Chia-Teo Ee Yi 19-21, 21-10, 21-18
MS3: Jan o Jorgensen beat Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin 16-21, 21-17, 21-14
