Consolation win: Go Pei Kee (left) and Teoh Mei Xing in action against Taiwan’s Hsu Ya Ching-Lin Wan Ching.
CHENGDU: No Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah, no problem.
In their absence Teoh Mei Xing-Go Pei Kee rose to the occasion by delivering the solitary point for Malaysia in their 1-4 defeat to Taiwan in the Group tie of the Uber Cup Finals yesterday.
The odds were stacked against Malaysia but Mei Xing, who is the team’s captain, led by example by combining brilliantly with Pei Kee to upstage world No. 24 Hsu Ya-ching-Lin Wan-ching 21-19, 21-17 at the Hi-Tech Sports Center.
It was the only consolation point but Mei Xing-Pei Kee can still hold their heads high after impressing in the absence of national No. 1 Pearly-Thinaah, who were given more time to focus on their preparations for the Paris Olympics.
Mei Xing-Pei Kee were playing together in their first tournament in more than a year after combining briefly in the beginning of 2023 but had no issues with their chemistry on court.
The 27-year-old Mei Xing was pleased to deliver a point for the team.
“I’m happy that I could contribute a point for the team,” said Mei Xing.
“Pei Kee and I might not be regular partners but we know each other well. We trained together and believed in each other’s abilities and this helped us win today (yesterday).
The 22-year-old Pei Kee said: “I was a bit nervous in the beginning but calmed myself down as the match progressed and grew more confident.
“The shuttle in the stadium is fast, so we tried to keep the shuttle low and not lift to get on the attack more and this strategy worked well for us.”
Malaysia can also take the positives after singles trio Goh Jin Wei, K. Letshanaa and Wong Ling Ching fought hard before losing in their respective matches.
Jin Wei went down 19-21, 20-22 to world No. 5 Tai Tzu-ying. Meanwhile, Letshanaa lost 21-13, 17-21, 16-21 to Wen Chi-hsu.
Ling Ching, who was making her debut in the team meet, also narrowly fell 17-21, 20-22 to Sung Shuo-yun.
In the second doubles, young pair Tan Zhing Yi-Ho Lo Ee found the going tough and went down 17-21, 11-21 to Hung Ling-fang-Teng Chen-hsun.
The team now face a difficult task to qualify for the quarter-finals as they take on favourites Thailand today. Another defeat will end their hopes of making it to the last eight.
Thailand easily beat Australia 5-0 in their first match.
Malaysia last reached the quarter-finals in the 2010 edition at home in Kuala Lumpur.
