KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia failed to get out of Group Two of the Asia-Oceania Zone in the Billie Jean King Cup women’s tennis tournament despite defeating Hong Kong 2-0 in the fifth-eighth classification match at the National Tennis Centre in Jalan Duta here today.
In another fifth-eighth classification match, Mongolia defeated Singapore 2-0.
Malaysia and Mongolia ended up sixth and fifth respectively based on the number of games they won and lost from the five matches they played in Group B.
Malaysia won seven games and lost eight while Mongolia won 11 games and lost four.
Malaysia lost 3-0 to New Zealand, 3-0 to Indonesia and 2-1 to Mongolia but defeated Sri Lanka 3-0 and Turkmenistan 3-0.
Mongolia defeated New Zealand 2-1, Sri Lanka 3-0, Malaysia 2-1 and Turkmenistan 3-0 and lost 2-1 to Indonesia.
The Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia (LTAM) had earlier targeted the national team to earn promotion to Group 1 of the prestigious tournament.
In the playoff against Hong Kong, the Malaysian team, under coach S. Selva Rajoo, picked up the first point when Lim Sze Xuan downed Hannah Shen Kaile 6-2, 6-2 before Shihomi Leong sealed victory with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Che Sin Yu.
Selva Rajoo said he was satisfied with the performance of his charges despite them only finishing sixth to remain in Group 2.
“To finish sixth overall is a decent result considering that this is a young team,” he told reporters here today.
Meanwhile, Pacific Oceania and Taiwan moved up to Group 1 after defeating Indonesia 2-0 and New Zealand 2-1 respectively in the promotional playoffs.
Turkmenistan and Guam, however, dropped to Group 3 after losing 2-0 to Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively in the relegation playoffs.-Bernama
