SHAH ALAM – The Malaysian women’s badminton team secured a spot in the semi-finals of the Asia Team Championships today after defeating India 3-2.
National women’s singles shuttler S. Kisona started Malaysia off with a bang by swiftly bouncing back from yesterday’s loss to Japan with a spirited 16-21, 21-18, 16-21 win over India’s A. Kasyap.
The world no. 64 dominated the match despite Kasyap successfully stretching the encounter to three sets.
“Although I felt a bit rushed in the second set, my performance improved as I had more patience to control the match in the third set,” said Kisona.
“All I did was to not think too much about the loss (in the second set) and to find ways to improve my form (in the third set).”
At the same time, doubles pair Valeree Siow-Pearly Tan gave Malaysia their second point after edging Khushi Gupta-Mehreen Riza 21-1, 21-6.
However, in the third match, singles player Siti Nurshuhaini struggled to maintain the winning composure she displayed in yesterday’s clash with Japan’s Hina Akechi.
“I felt the pressure for me to win was more today and I completely lost focus,” she said.
Doubles players Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing subsequently delivered the winning point for Malaysia in straight sets after defeating Arul Bala Radhakrishnan-Nila Valluvan 21-10, 21-12.
Myisha Mohd Khairul, however, failed to clinch the last point when she went up against Tara Shah, losing out to the Indian shuttler 21-16, 21-15.
Meanwhile, the men’s national contingent made a clean sweep against Singapore today, winning all five matches.
National blue-eyed-boy Lee Zii Jia started off with an impressive 21-6, 21-14 win over Loh Kean Yew.
Men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik followed up Zii Jia’s inspired performance by crushing Singapore’s Danny Bawa Chrisnanta-Wesley Koh 21-14, 21-12 within 25 minutes.
Singles player Ng Tze Yong then delivered the winning point for Malaysia in an energetic 17-21, 24-22, 21-19 match against Jason Teh.
Although he only had a week to practice after coming down with Covid-19 in late January, 21-year-old Tze Yong didn’t want to give up and didn’t want his journey to end.
“I was not quite satisfied with my performance because I felt like I didn’t have enough time to prepare − mentally and physically,” he said.
“But then, after the second set, I felt a bit more control in my form and my confidence started to pick up.”
Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin secured another point for the country after they downed Terry Hee-Andy Kwek 21-10, 21-13.
As for the final point, singles shuttler Jun Hao Leong edged out Joel Koh with a straightforward 21-17, 22-20.
The men will take on Kazakhstan tomorrow and Japan on Friday. − The Vibes, February 16, 2022
