PETALING JAYA: Kenneth Jonassen was left deeply disappointed after watching two of his charges fail to deliver points as Malaysia went down 0-3 to China in the Thomas Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark.
The defeat also ended Malaysia’s hopes of ending their 34-year wait to lift the Thomas Cup.
The national singles coaching director refused to offer excuses and instead took full responsibility for the below-par performances of Leong Jun Hao and Justin Hoh throughout the tournament.
Jun Hao, fielded as the first singles, lost to world No. 1 Shi Yuqi 10-21, 21-16, 9-21.
Top men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik also fell to Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang 22-24, 14-21, while Justin, playing as the second singles, could not stop China from sealing the third point after losing to world No. 7 Li Shifeng 14-21, 13-21.
“Not doing well at all. Of course I take full responsibility for the lack of performances from Justin and Jun Hao during this championship.
“They came in with too many flaws in their game, which were exposed at this level where the pressure is high,” said Jonassen.
Aside from failing to deliver against China, Jun Hao, who had been labelled as a team event specialist, also suffered a shock defeat to Joakim Oldorff when Malaysia faced Finland.
He was also unable to reproduce his best form against Japan’s Kodai Naraoka in the final Group B tie.
Justin also struggled as the second singles. Although he contributed a point by beating Finland’s Kalle Koljonen, he suffered a surprise defeat to England’s Harry Huang in the opening tie and found Japan’s Yushi Tanaka too tough to handle.
Only independent shuttler Lee Zii Jia maintained a 100% record for Malaysia in the tournament, but he did not get the chance to play against Weng Hongyang in the quarter-finals.
