Malaysia slip into Uber Cup by virtue of world ranking

ALOR SETAR: Malaysia missed out on an automatic spot for the Uber Cup Finals after losing 3-0 to South Korea in the quarter-finals of the Asia Team Championships at the Sultan Abdul Halim Stadium.

Butall is not lost. The women shuttlers have still done enough to qualify for the Thomas Cup Finals in Bangkok, Thailand, in May – based on the overall team ranking.

Malaysia, ranked eighth in Asia and ninth in the world, are set to be one of the last three teams to qualify based on the March 3 world rankings together with Taiwan and India.

Yesterday, the Koreans turned up the heat on Malaysia with world No. 6 Sung Ji-hyun blowing world No. 27 Soniia Cheah away with a 21-13, 21-10 win.

Scratch pair Vivian Hoo-Tee Jing Yi, who performed admirably in their first outing together against Thailand on Thursday, ran out of steam in a 10-21, 15-21 loss to world No. 11 Lee So-hee-Shin Seung-chan.

Malaysia then looked to former world junior champion Goh Jin Wei to salvage some hope.

But the 18-year-old couldn’t get her head in the game and blew a one-game lead to lose 21-17, 11-21, 13-21 to world No. 17 Lee Jang-mi.

“I got a little tense after taking the first game and I just had too much on my mind,” admitted Jin Wei.

“I’m not happy with my performance because I know I could have done a lot better.

“But we still have time and I’m confident that this team will learn from this defeat and improve for the Uber Cup in May.”

National women’s singles head coach Datuk Tey Seu Bock was also far from pleased with the way his charges performed.

“It’s true we qualified based on our ranking but I’m disappointed with the defeat to South Korea,” said Seu Bock.

“They didn’t really live up to expectations. I’ve told them that places for the Uber Cup team is still open.

“Only those who show more results, commitment and discipline will have a better chance,” he added.

South Korea face China in the semi-finals today while Indonesia take on Japan.