CHENGDU: The agility of China’s men’s doubles player He Ji Ting in the deciding set of the fourth match between China and Malaysia in the semi-final proved to be the main factor for the defeat of Malaysia’s pair, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, last night.
With Malaysia trailing 2-1 to China, Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin were relied upon to save the situation and keep Malaysia’s hopes alive of breaking the 32-year Thomas Cup title drought by advancing to the final today.
Despite the world number 15 doubles pair showing promise by winning the first set 21-18, Ji Ting and his partner Ren Xiang Yu made a comeback to win the next two sets 21-19, 21-12, thus leading China to the final with a 3-1 victory on home turf.
Akademi Badminton Malaysia Director of Coaching, Rexy Mainaky, said that Ji Ting deserved to be recognised as the best player of the match for his control over the game, shutting down the challenge from Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin and leading his team to the final against Indonesia, who defeated Taiwan 3-0 in the other semi-final tie.
“The second doubles pair, Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin, started well but in the second and third sets, during crucial points, they became stagnant and China managed to drag it out, ultimately benefiting the opponents,“ he said to Malaysian media when met at the team hotel today.
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Meanwhile, Rexy said the 2022 men’s doubles world champions, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, got caught up in the playing style of the world number one pair, Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang, leading to a loss in the first set of the second match 15-21 but they recovered to earn Malaysia’s only point with a win, 21-12, 21-17.
Rexy, however, demanded that the top national doubles pair play more firmly and consistently leading up to the 2024 Olympics after they nearly allowed the Chinese pair to gain point after point despite having a comfortable lead in the third set, before successfully frustrating the homesters.
On the performance of professional singles player Lee Zii Jia, Rexy said the world number 10 still put pressure on China’s top player, Shi Yu Qi, before losing the first set 19-21, but the opponent put on an outstanding performance to give China the early advantage with an easy 21-5 win in 39 minutes.
Despite taking an early lead in the third game, the Indonesian doubles specialist admitted that Jun Hao’s performance declined as he could not withstand the onslaught from China’s second singles player, Li Shi Feng, after he read Malaysian’s playing style, giving the home team the advantage with a 21-17, 21-10 win.
Rexy said the team’s mood remained positive even though luck wasn’t on their side last night.
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“I find that this team is very solid (in spirit). The disappointment is there, but not too down. I hope they can bounce back in the upcoming tournaments, including the Malaysia Masters later this month and the 2024 Paris Olympics,“ he said.
Malaysia started their Group D campaign with 5-0 wins over Hong Kong last Saturday and Algeria on Sunday but failed to top the group after a 2-3 loss to Denmark on Tuesday.
On Thursday, the national team overcame Japan 3-1 to reach the semi-finals for the first time in eight years.
