PETALING JAYA: Malaysia are one win away from ending their 16-year wait for a place in the quarter-finals of the Uber Cup in Horsens, but must first overcome South Africa in today’s Group B tie.
Malaysia opened their Group B campaign yesterday at Forum Horsens with a narrow 3-2 win over Turkiye, while Japan cruised to a 5-0 victory over South Africa.
Although Malaysia emerged victorious, the performance was far from convincing and they cannot afford a repeat against South Africa.
The top two teams in the group will advance to the knockout stage.
Injury worries have continued to shadow Malaysia’s camp after women’s singles Wong Ling Ching revealed she had been battling hip and back problems during the intensive training stint in Herning last week.
It almost proved costly after Ling Ching, fielded in the second singles, slumped to a surprise 17-21, 21-15, 18-21 defeat to world No. 78 Ozge Bayrak.
“Actually, before we came here, we had a training camp of around 10 days in Herning. During the training camp, I was dealing with hip and back injuries.
“The hip injury has fully recovered, but the back is still not so good.
“The coaches decided to field me, thinking I could regain some confidence and rhythm through playing.
“But it did not go so well. Everything felt out of control. I just thought maybe I could do better in the next game,” Ling Ching said in an interview with Badminton World Federation.
M. Thinaah also appeared to feel the absence of her regular partner, Pearly Tan as she struggled in a scratch pairing with Ong Xin Yee.
Thinaah-Xin Yee went down 22-20, 19-21, 19-21 to Bengisu Ercetin-Nazlican Inci.
“I think before entering the court, we knew the opponents were really strong. We had seen them play and they had also recently reached the final of the European Championships.
“So we were prepared that it would not be an easy match. They did very well in putting us under pressure.
“We are quite disappointed with how we played today. I think we followed the opponents’ game a little too much, and that was where we lost most of our points,” said Thinaah.
Malaysia secured their three points through K. Letshanaa, Goh Jin Wei and young doubles pair Low Zi Yu-Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan, who were making their tournament debut.
Letshanaa overcame world No. 30 Neslihan Arin 21-16, 13-21, 21-13, while Jin Wei restored Malaysia’s lead with a 21-14, 21-13 win over Zehra Erdem.
Zi Yu-Noraqilah then emerged as the match winners after sealing the decisive point with a 21-18, 21-19 victory over Yasemen Bektas-Zehra Erdem.
