PETALING JAYA: Malaysia may have fallen short this time, but they have the depth to go further in the next edition of the Uber Cup in Indonesia, says national doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky.
The national team’s campaign in this year’s edition in Horsens, Denmark came to an end after a 3-0 defeat to 16-time champions and defending holders China in the quarter-finals.
However, the young squad showed strong fighting spirit against China’s elite players.
Rexy was not disappointed, acknowledging the strength of the Chinese team.
In fact, Malaysia had already met their target by ending a 16-year wait to reach the quarter-finals, a stage they last reached in 2010 in Kuala Lumpur.
Without Pearly Tan, who withdrew at the last minute due to injury, Rexy said he was proud of the fighting spirit shown by the two young pairs, Carmen Ting-Ong Xin Yee and Low Zi Yu-Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan, throughout the campaign.
He also believes Malaysia can do better in the next edition if they can maintain this level.
"We can see that this is the team for the next Uber Cup in two years. Reaching the quarter-finals is what we had targeted.
"Most of the squad are young players. Against China, they played with a nothing to lose attitude and without pressure, and that is something positive.
"Overall, it was a good performance. You could also see it in the match against Turkiye, when the young pair aged 15 and 18 (Zi Yu-Noraqilah), with the score at 2-2, stepped up for the deciding match and played without pressure, performing well.
"So this is something we can build on. In the next two years, our Uber Cup team will be more solid," Rexy said in an interview with the Badminton Association of Malaysia.
In the quarter-final tie at Forum Horsens on Thursday (April 30), K. Letshanaa gave world No. 2 Wang Zhiyi a strong fight before going down 17-21, 18-21.
Carmen Ting, who reunited with Ong Xin Yee, also impressed by taking world No. 1 pair Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning to three games.
However, experience proved decisive as Carmen-Xin Yee fell 14-21, 21-16, 13-21.
Wong Ling Ching then tried to keep Malaysia in the tie, but Chen Yufei was too strong, winning 21-10, 21-10 to seal the win for China.
