Vantaa: After coming up short in his bid for a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, World No. 1 Kento Momota avoided a second consecutive defeat to Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia on Thursday, after losing to the Malaysian in the quarter-finals of All England on March 19, 2021.
At the last Group D tie between Japan and Malaysia, Kento Momota found himself with his back to the wall by trailing 0-6 in the first game. He then rediscovered his form to see off a spirited challenge from the much-hyped 23-year-old Malaysian 21-18 in the first set.
Momota demonstrated an exceptional start of the second game, attacking Lee Zii Jia’s backhand and playing with a quick tempo to pressure the Malaysian to commit errors. The Japanese completely dominated the second game to wrap up the game with 21-10 and gave Japan a 2-1 overall lead.
In the first match of the tie, World No. 8 men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia allowed Japan’s World No. 16 Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi to come back from 13-18 and led at 20-19. Fortunately, Chia/Soh remained calm and successfully reeled off three consecutive points to take the first game 22-20.
As they were trailing by 4-11, Chia/Soh seemed to give up the second set and was prepared for the decider by going down 14-21 in the second game.
The beginning of the third set was very tense as the score was tied for 8-times before the interval. However, after the interval, Chia/Soh successfully came through the fierce battle against the Japanese pair to win the third game 21-16, giving Malaysia a 1-0 lead in a match that lasted 67 minutes.
In the women’s singles match that followed, Japan’s World No. 5 Akane Yamaguchi needed only 32 minutes to level the score at 1-1 by beating Kisona Selvaduray of Malaysia 21-14, 21-14 in the women’s singles match.
After Kento Momota won the men’s singles match against Lee Zii Jia, Japan was guaranteed winner of the tie as Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida outlasted Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia 21-16, 21-17 in the women’s doubles match while Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino overcame Hoo Pang Ron/Cheah Yee See 21-16, 21-9 in mixed doubles.
Below are day five results for the 2021 Sudirman Cup:
Sudirman Cup – Group B, Chinese Taipei vs. Korea 0-5
Sudirman Cup – Group B, Germany vs. Tahiti 5-0
Sudirman Cup – Group D, Japan vs. Malaysia 4-1
Sudirman Cup – Group D, England vs. Egypt 5-0
