ALL OR NOTHING
Malaysia have to beat India in a winner-take-all encounter
DESPITE a heavy defeat on Sunday, Malaysia’s game plan remains the same, and that is to beat India today (11am) to reach the quarter-finals of the Sudirman Cup in Nanning, China.
As expected, the national squad stood no chance against second seeds China as the 10time champions romped home to a 5-0 win in the opening Group D tie, but they were never the target.
“I believe even before the competition began, everyone was well aware that our mission is to beat India,” said BA of Malaysia (BAM) coaching director Wong Choong Hann yesterday.
“But it won’t be easy because that is probably India’s mission too. They will be going all out to get our scalp.
“However, the tie against China was a very important one for our young squad.
“It did not only show them their strong points but also exposed their weaknesses, and that is what we want.
“Honestly, I thought our young players gave everything they had against China.
“Knowing how important the tie against India is, we trained really hard today to work on crucial areas.
“All in all, our players now have an understanding of what is expected of them in a team event,” added Choong Hann.
In the tie against China, Malaysia’s men's doubles Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and women’s singles Soniia Cheah gave good accounts when they managed to drag reigning world champions Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen and World No 3 Chen Yufei to the deciding game before going down.
India, similarly, will be very strong in the singles department.
On how the national side intend to contain players like K.Srikanth, P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, Choong Hann said: “I think Soniia did very well against China, but Lee Zii Jia was not able to produce his best.
“However, he tried his best against World No 2 Shi Yuqi, it’s just the China star was a tough nut to crack. It reminded me of a young Chen Long going up against the likes of Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan in the past.
“Zii Jia just have to continue working hard, and he will get there.”
Malaysia need to beat India, as only the top two teams from each group will qualify for the quarterfinals.
The last time Malaysia failed to make the knockout stage was in 2013 in Kuala Lumpur.