CHENGDU: Malaysia’s bid to end their 32-year wait for Thomas Cup glory ended in tatters after going down 3-1 to hosts China in their semi-final encounter at an almost full capacity Chengdu Sports Centre today.
China rose to the occasion thanks to the vociferous home crowd support and Malaysia wilted under the weight of expectations and the power and might of the badminton giants.
China will now take on Indonesia in the title showdown after the 14-time champions thumped Taiwan in the other semi-final. China and Indonesia will also meet in the final of the Uber Cup women’s team championship tomorrow.
The home nation took a winning start when world number two men’s singles ace Shi Yu Qi set the tone as he outplayed Malaysia’s professional men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia 21-19, 21-5 in just 35 minutes for a 1-0 lead.
After going down fighting in the first game, world number 10 Zii Jia ran out of steam in the next game and was given a lesson in badminton by Yu Qi. It was Zii Jia’s fifth loss to the Chinese ace in six meetings.
Malaysia drew level in the second match when 2022 men’s doubles world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik overcame a shaky start against Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang, succumbing 15-21 in the first game before regaining their composure to take the second game 21-12 to force a rubber game.
Aaron-Wooi Yik engaged in a neck-and-neck battle in the decider until 16-16 before stepping up a gear to put Malaysia back in contention with a 21-17 victory after a titanic 55-minute slugfest.
Malaysia’s second singles player Leong Jun Hao then took to the court and, despite building up a six-point lead at 8-2 in the first game against Li Shi Feng, the Malaysian’s game went south and he fell 17-21.
That derailed his concentration in the second game. It showed as a series of unforced errors resulted in Leong, ranked world number 37, trailing 0-11 before Shi Feng, the 2022 Asian Games men’s singles gold medallist, romped home to win 21-10.
That set the stage for Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani to try to salvage Malaysia’s position in the second doubles match against He Ji Ting-Ren Xiang Yu.
They gave Malaysians a glimmer of hope by winning the first game 21-18, but the Chinese pair staged a remarkable comeback to win the next two games 21-19, 21-12 in 63 minutes to send Malaysia packing – and China into the final.
Malaysia opened their campaign in Group D with two massive 5-0 victories over Hong Kong on April 27 and Algeria on April 28 but lost the chance to top the group after losing 3-2 to European powerhouse Denmark on April 30.
On May 2, Malaysia sent Japan packing 3-1 to advance to the semi-finals for the first time after eight years.
The Thomas Cup, the world men’s team championship, was last won by Malaysia in 1992 with a 3-2 victory over Indonesia, a quarter-century after also defeating Indonesia 6-3 in 1967. Malaya won the first three Thomas Cup championships in 1949, 1952 and 1955.
In today’s Uber Cup semi-finals, 15-time champions China cruised to a 3-0 win over Japan while Indonesia stunned reigning champions South Korea, 3-2 to reach their first final after 16 years.
