KUALA LUMPUR – The Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) coaching directors Rexy Mainaky and Wong Choong Hann are happy with the overall performance of the Sudirman Cup team.
Yesterday, Malaysia went down 3-1 to South Korea in the semi-final in Suzhou, China.
The defeat is the country’s third at the semi-final stage, after previous last-four losses in 2009 and 2021.
Rexy said that he was happy with the team’s preparation going into the match.
“Our preparation was not perfect, but I could see some positive changes.
“Overall, we performed well – but of course, except for yesterday.
“We lacked some rest as we played late into the night the day before (against Denmark) and had to play the morning session (against South Korea). But I want to give credit to all our players,” he said.
Malaysia had lost the opening mixed-doubles match when Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei could not capitalise on their bright start to lose the match in the rubber game.
Lee Zii Jia then levelled things up before K. Letshanaa had the daunting task of facing in-form world number two An Se-young.
“Letshanaa played well even though people were predicting she was going to get hammered. She played a good game against a world-class opponent,” said Rexy.
That sentiment was echoed by Choong Hann.
“For Letshanaa, it was a good experience, especially being able to put up a good fight against Se-young.
“Letshanaa was able to follow her tactically and her ideas and the exchange of rallies were really good too. Mentally she was strong but what she lacks is explosive power.
“Moving forward, her training has to be clearer,” he said.
The burden of levelling the tie again then fell on the shoulders of men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik but they were shocked by scratch pair Kim Won-ho-Na Sung-seung in straight sets to give the Koreans the tie-winning point.
“There has been focus on Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik’s defeat, I agree that their performance was off par yesterday.
“They were good against India and Denmark so it is definitely something that we have to be aware of (in terms of) what we need to do in… preparing them for the upcoming Malaysian Masters,” said Rexy.
Choong Hann believed Malaysia put forward their best line-up to face the mighty Koreans.
“We had an amazing start to the tournament and reached the semi-final.
“We must accept that we lost to a better team, but this defeat also gives our players a good experience,” he said.
Malaysia would have made history if they had beaten the Koreans as they have never made it to the final of the biennial, mixed-team tournament before.
“Personally, we are disappointed we did not beat South Korea to make it to the final.
“But we must remain tough and move on. I hope we will rise from this disappointment,” said the 2003 World Championship runner-up.
The next assignment for Malaysia’s shuttlers is the Malaysian Masters, which starts on Tuesday. – The Vibes, May 21, 2023
