Jakarta: After beating Philippines 4-0 on Tuesday, Malaysia is one win away to qualify for the semi-finals of the Axiata Cup.
In the men’s singles event, Chong Wei Feng needed only 29 minutes to down Jason Oba-On with 21-12, 21-14. Then, Tee Jing Yi put Malaysia ahead with 2-0 after she eased past Airah Mae Nicole Aldo 21-12, 21-12 in women singles.
Men’s doubles pair Tan Boon Heong-Tan Wee Kiong had to dig deep to stage a great escape in the first set, but made it easy to score the winning point for Malaysia as they faced little resistance in the second set from Philip Joper Escueta-Ronel Estanislao to prevail with a 24-22, 21-11 win.
Chan Peng Soon-Lai Pei Jing proved to be too much for Paul Jefferson Vivas-Eleanor Christine Inlayo to overcome on Tuesday as the Malaysian had next to no trouble beating their opponents 21-16, 21-17.
The Malaysians now need to clear one more hurdle – against Singapore on Wednesday to be assured of moving on into the semi-finals from Dec 6-7 in Kuala Lumpur.
Indonesia moved up to 21 points to lead the standings for now following tonight’s 3-1 win over All-Star Europe which is indeed good news for the Malaysians. The only glitch in the Indonesian victory was the retirement of Lindaweni Fanetri in her women’s singles match against Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour.
Thailand and All-Star Asia have also qualified for the semi-finals, joining Indonesia. The Thais defeated Vietnam 3-1 to gain 18 points to stay in second spot and play the host nation on Wednesday in the last of preliminary round matches while All-Star Asia thrashed Singapore 4-0 to move to third in the standings with 16 points.
