Thomas Cup: Malaysia suffer huge blow, lose 2-3 to India

Lee Zii Jia

BANGKOK: Malaysia crashed out in the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup Finals after a 2-3 defeat to India.

It was Malaysia's first defeat to India in the Thomas Cup Finals since 1979.

The campaign started off well when Lee Zii Jia exacted sweet revenge to give Malaysia a morale-boosting start.

The world No. 6 demolished Lakshya Sen 23-21, 21-9 to make up for his disappointment of losing to the player in the semi-finals of the All-England in March.

The 20-year-old seemed to have the upper hand when he led 20-18 but Zii Jia refused to give in.

The Asian champion stepped on the gas to win the opener 23-21 and continued with his blistering pace in the second.

"I was leading all the way but lost focus when he caught up, luckily I won. As for the second, the draught in the hall was favourable to me, and I felt comfortable to control the shuttle but he wasn't.

"He is a good defensive player. I'm glad I finally got a win against him and hopefully, my teammates will follow through."

Malaysia's joy however was shortlived when Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, who were again given the opportunity to play as the first doubles, went down 19-21, 15-21 to Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty in 41 minutes.

The duo were unable to reproduce the same form that saw them beating Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan a day earlier and Izzuddin admitted that they did not bring out their game.

"We had so many plans but we were unable to play our game," said Izzuddin.

Chipped in Sze Fei: "Their front and mid court game were good and we could not create as many chances as we wanted too."

The Malaysians have only beaten the pair once in seven meetings at last year's Denmark Open.

The hope was on Ng Tze Yong to put Malaysia back in the lead but the 21-year-old went down 11-21, 17-21 to K. Srikanth.

"I tried but Srikanth is a more experienced player. His techniques were good. I still have more to learn," said Tze Yong, who was also beaten by the Indian at the Asian Championships two weeks ago.

Aaron Chia-Teo Ee Yi saved the tie for Malaysia when they defeated Krishna Prasad-Goud Panjala 21-19, 21-17 in a close match to level the score at 2-2.

"There was pressure on us to deliver but Ee Yi and I hung on there to win. We have never played this pair before so it took us some time to get into the game. We hope (Leong) Jun Hao will end it well for us."

The 22-year-old Jun Hao however failed to deliver the winning point when he went down 13-21, 8-21 to H.S. Prannoy.

“I’m sorry. I was unable to win it for Malaysia,” said a dejected Jun Hao.