PETALING JAYA: Carmen Ting-Ong Xin Yee and Low Zi Yu-Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan stepped up when it mattered most.
The young pairs rose to the occasion against higher-ranked opponents, earning praise for their fighting spirit and marking themselves as future stars in Malaysia’s doubles ranks.
Malaysia already boast world No. 2 pair M. Thinaah-Pearly Tan to lead the department, although Pearly missed the Finals due to injury.
National doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky believes the growing depth will put the team in a stronger position for the next Uber Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“It is still too early to say whether they can reach the level of Pearly-Thinaah. We cannot judge based on just one tournament,” said Rexy in an interview with the Badminton Association of Malaysia.
“But from what our young pairs have shown, we still need to build them up over the next year, especially in terms of handling their mental strength and mindset.
“If you look at the way they played, they have the ability and the potential to reach the level of Pearly-Thinaah, but all of that will take time because there are still many areas we need to work on with them,”
On Thursday, Carmen-Xin Yee impressed by taking world No. 1 pair Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning to three games in the quarter-finals that saw Malaysia going down fighting 0-3 to China at Forum Horsens.
Earlier, K. Letshanaa gave world No. 2 Wang Zhiyi a strong fight before going down 17-21, 18-21 but Wong Ling Ching lost 10-21, 10-21 to Chen Yufei.
Zi Yu-Noraqilah did not get to play in the tie against the 16-time Uber Cup champions China but against Turkiye in the group tie, the duo withstood pressure to deliver the winning point.
“Most of the squad are young players. Against China, they played with a nothing to lose attitude and without pressure, and that is something positive.
“Overall, it was a good performance.
“You could also see it in the match against Turkiye, when the young pair aged 15 and 18 (Zi Yu-Noraqilah), with the score at 2-2, stepped up for the deciding match and played without pressure, performing well.
“So this is something we can build on. In the next two years, our Uber Cup team will be more solid.”
Malaysia had already met their target by ending a 16-year wait to reach the quarter-finals, a stage they last reached in 2010 in Kuala Lumpur.
