Shah Alam: Malaysia’s 2017 Asian Junior Championships boys’ singles champion – Leong Jun Hao picked the perfect moment to take charge of the fates of two countries – Malaysia and Singapore at the 2022 Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) on Friday.
In the last Group B tie that took place at Setia City Convention Centre, Shah Alam, Malaysia on Friday, if Japan beat Malaysia, Japan would emerge as the champions of Group B, and Malaysia would become the runners-up. However, if Malaysia beat Japan, Malaysia would become the champions and Singapore would be the runners-up. Only the top two teams in each group would advance to the 2022 BATC semi-finals and thus also qualify for the 2022 Thomas Cup Finals that will be held in Bangkok in May.
While Singapore did not waste any time to defeat Kazakhstan 5-0 on Friday, the tie between Malaysia and Japan went right down the wire.
Although the Japanese team came to Malaysia without any of their top players, Japan’s young players fought their hearts out and did their team proud to almost beat Malaysia who was sending its best players to compete at the 2022 BATC.
In the first men’s singles, Malaysia’s World No. 7 Lee Zii Jia was struggling against World No. 343 Riku Hatano of Japan, losing the first game 15-21 before winning the next two 21-6, 21-15.
Japan’s World 857 Ayato Endo/Yuta Takei would be the unsung heroes if Japan went on to win the tie. Endo/Takei probably never dreamt they would be able to deliver a point when they beat World No. 7 Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik 23-21, 21-16 to level the overall score at 1-1.
Takahashi Koo who has no world rankings put Japan in front and kept the Malaysian fans quiet momentarily when the Japanese beat Malaysia’s World No. 112 Aidil Sholeh 19-21, 21-16, 21-15.
Malaysia’s World No. 17 men’s pair Goh Sze Fei/Izzuddin Nur leveled the tie with the sterling effort to see off a spirited performance from the Japanese pair – Mezaki Shuntaro/Nishida Haruya also has no world ranking. Goh/Izzuddin won 17-21, 21-17, 21-17 to set up a fifth decisive match between World No. 126 Leong Jun Hao and the unranked Japanese Koshiro Moriguchi.
Leong played in only his second tie, stayed calm, and delivered against the less experienced opponent, winning 21-18, 21-16. Not only that his victory has saved the face of the hosts and also enabled Malaysia to top Group B, but it also gave Singapore a historic bronze after qualifying for the semi-finals of the BATC for the first time.
Since the semi-finalists of men’s and women’s events will automatically qualify for the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals that will be held in Bangkok, from May 8 to May 15, Leong also did Singapore a favor by sending Singapore to their third outing at the prestigious team competition.
In the 2022 BATC men’s team semi-finals, Malaysia has been drawn to take on Korea on Saturday while Singapore will take on defending champions – Indonesia in the last four.
The semi-finals of the women’s team event saw Malaysia faces Korea while Indonesia will meet Japan for a spot in the final.
