PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s young shuttlers may have missed out on ending a 15-year wait for the mixed team title at the World Junior Championships, but junior doubles coach Hazwan Jamaluddin was proud of the fight they showed in the 2-1 defeat to China.
The 15-time champions were pushed all the way in the final at the Cairo International Stadium on Saturday, with Malaysia refusing to give up even when they found themselves trailing by a wide margin.
Malaysia lost the opening game 46-55 and looked in danger of seeing China wrap up the match in straight games.
However, Low Zi Yu-Genevie Lim sparked the fightback by beating Shi Sichen-Wei Yueyue, helping Malaysia snatch the second game 55-53 to level the match at 1-1.
Malaysia again fell well behind at the start of the deciding game and this time there was no way back as they went down 45-55, allowing China to lift their 16th title.
“First of all, I’m grateful that we managed to reach the final, although luck was not on our side. We could see that all the players fought until the very last point and their desire to win was very strong.
“Even in the second game, when it looked like we were going to lose, they kept trying to catch up. That was what pleased me most about their performance.
“For example, the mixed doubles pairs Zi Yu-Redzuan and Shazmir-Genevie fought right until the end.
“I didn’t expect us to take it to a third game, but they managed to steal one and I think that was something positive for them. It will also give them a morale boost and help them find their rhythm before the individual event begins,” said Hazwan when contacted.
Zi Yu, one of Malaysia’s key players in the campaign, admitted she was disappointed to miss out on the gold after giving her all in the final.
“In the second game we were always close, and so we could fight. We were never far behind. We got confident and had more self-belief. In the third we didn’t start well and we trailed by a big margin.
“If we had to win, we had to chase a large score, and that’s difficult against China, because they are quite strong. This was a challenge for us, but we didn’t give up, we wanted to fight.
“Of course I wanted us to win the gold, and after winning the second set, I thought the gold was within reach. We gave it our all,” said Zi Yu to BWF.
Malaysia’s silver medal in the mixed team event was still an achievement to be proud of as the last time they reached the final was at the 2017 edition in Yogyakarta, where they also lost to China.
Malaysia last won the title in 2011 in Taiwan.
Although they missed out on the gold in the team event, the Malaysian players will have another chance to make amends when the individual competition begins today.
