PETALING JAYA: Captain Leong Jun Hao lived up to his status as the top singles shuttler by defeating world No. 8 Kodai Naraoka in a tense Group C tie against Japan in the Sudirman Cup.
Jun Hao fought hard to beat Naraoka 21-8, 13-21, 21-18 in Xiamen, China on Friday (May 1).
Jun Hao held a slight mental edge going into the tie, having won three of their previous four meetings. He made a confident start and took control of the opening game, but true to form, Naraoka, renowned for turning matches into three-game marathons fought back hard in the second.
Still, Jun Hao held his nerve and kept his focus to notch another impressive win over the Japanese shuttler to give Malaysia a 2-0 lead.
Earlier at the Fenghuang Gymnasium, Olympic Sport Center, mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei had delivered the perfect start by outclassing Hiroki Midorikawa-Arisa Igarashi 21-19, 21-18 in just 39 minutes to put Malaysia in the lead.
Jun Hao and Tang Jie-Ee Wei's efforts ended in vain as Malaysia went down fighting 2-3 to finish second to Japan in Group C. Malaysia will still make it to the quarter-finals as the second best team from the group.
Goh Jin Wei was not able to clinch the winning point after going down 14-21, 17-21 to Tomoka Miyazaki in the women’s singles.
Reigning Asian champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik fought hard to get the better of former world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi to seal the tie but they went down fighting 21-12, 20-22, 21-23 in the men’s doubles.
Top women shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah were the last hope to salvage the tie in a bid for Malaysia to become the group winners but they lost 18-21, 21-19, 18-21 to world No. 2 pair Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida but not after giving a good fight.
