SHAH ALAM: Malaysia’s women shuttlers continue to suffer a slump in the world stage.
The team led by independent player Goh Jin Wei (pic) underlined the glaring lack of depth when they collapsed to a 1-4 defeat to a weakened Thailand in the Group Y match in the Asia Team Championships at the Setia City Convention Center yesterday.
Thailand were without former world champion and their No. 1 women’s singles player Ratchanok Intanon as well as No. 2 Pornpawee Chochuwong but still had enough to win two points in the singles.
World No. 31 Jin Wei gave world No. 17 Supanida Katethong a close fight in the second game before going down 13-21, 24-26 in the opening match.
Hopes were on national No. 1 women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah to help the team level the tie but the duo narrowly lost 22-20, 15-21, 19-21 to world No. 10 Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai.
Pearly-Thinaah were behind 14-19 in the third game before clawing their way back to 19-19 but could not make their hard work count.
The team were then left with a mountain to climb with world No. 57 K. Letshanaa up against Busanan Ongbamrungphan and as expected she lost 17-21, 18-21 to the world No. 18.
The disappointment was clearly written on the faces of the players after the defeat.
Jin Wei said: “I played better in the second game but I just could not maintain my momentum until the end.
“My physical condition is not the best but I won’t say that I was tired. I need to improve a lot in my next match.”
World No. 14 Pearly-Thinaah’s first ever defeat to Jongkolphan-Kititharakul after winning six times in a row was a blow.
“We were following our opponents’ rhythm too much and did not bring out our own game,” lamented Pearly.
The 20-year-old Letshanaa took the positives from her match.
“I played better than when I last met her in the Asian Games last October,” said Letshanaa.
“I lost by a bigger margin and did not play well that time. I’ve progressed since but I need to be more patient during long rallies and be more consistent with my shots.”
“We are not far behind them. We are getting closer,” insisted Letshanaa.
“They have a bigger pool of talent compared to us. We need to keep working hard to bridge the gap.”
In the last match, 20-year-old and world No. 76 Wong Ling Ching proved that there was hope for the future after stunning world No. 45 Pornpawee Choeikeewong 21-19, 15-21, 21-16 in 65 minutes to salvage some pride for the home team.
In the second doubles tie, scratch pairing Teoh Mei Xing-Tan Zhing Yi fell 17-21, 18-21 to sisters Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard.
Despite the defeat, Malaysia have still qualified for the quarter-finals along with Thailand.
