Alor Setar: After the losing to Thailand 2-3 on Tuesday, Malaysia stormed back and beat Myanmar 5-0 in the second Group C tie at Badminton Asia Team Championships on Wednesday.
Malaysia rested World No. 2 Lee Chong Wei, and moved Lee Zii Jia to the first men’s singles spot in the tie against Myanmar. And the 19-year-old Lee Zii Jia didn’t disappoint, he needed only 20 minutes to see off Phone Pyae Naing of Myanmar 21-3, 21-10 at the Sultan Abdul Halim Stadium.
Soong Joo Ven was moved to the second men’s singles and gave Malaysia a 2-0 lead by dispatching Aung Myo Htoo 21-9, 21-7 before Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin clinched the winning point by easing past Chan Win Oo 21-10, 21-10 in 22 minutes.
World No. 23 Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi replaced Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong in the first men’s doubles spot by winning the fourth point for Malaysia while World No. 53 Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin Rumsani completed the sweep by overcoming Aung Myo Htoo/Chan Win Oo 21-12, 21-9.
“I am glad we are back on track but we need to work on a proper plan against Taiwan,” said Malaysia’s men’s singles head coach Misbun Sidek.
Meanwhile, Taiwan survived a 3-2 narrow victory against Thailand on Wednesday.
Taiwan rested Chou Tien Chen and placed Wang Tzu-wei in the first men’s singles, but Wang had no answers to the aggressiveness of Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand by going down 19-21, 17-21.
Fortunately, Lee Jhe-Huei/Lee Yang of Taiwan showed their dominance in men’s doubles by beating Kittinupong Kedren/Dechapol Puavaranukroh 21-16, 21-7 before Hsu Jen-hao of Taiwan beat Kantaphon Wangchareon 21-17, 21-16 in the second men’s singles to give Taiwan a 2-1 lead.
Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han sealed the tie for Taiwan when they battle past Tinn Isriyanet/Kittisak Namdash 21-15, 21-17. Thailand’s Pannawit Thongnaum however gave his country a consolation by beating Lin Yu-Hsein 21-18, 21-19 in the third men’s singles match in their 2-3 loss.
With Wednesday’s victory, Taiwan have now qualified for the quarter-final. If Malaysia can beat Taiwan on Thursday, both Malaysia and Taiwan will make the last eight. If Malaysia lose the tie on Thursday, Thailand and Taiwan will be the two teams to progress from Group C into the quarter-finals.
