Sweet revenge
Malaysia get the better of Germany in Sudirman Cup opener
PETALING JAYA: The women shuttlers stepped up to the plate to help Malaysia gain sweet revenge on Germany in the Sudirman Cup badminton championship in Gold Coast, Australia.
Fielding their best line-up, Malaysia won their opening Group C tie 5-0 at the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre to check into the quarter-finals.
Malaysia fell to a shock defeat to the lower-ranked European team in the 2013 edition in Kuala Lumpur, where all the women shuttlers lost their matches.
Yesterday, mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing got the ball rolling by delivering the first point with a sensational 21-17, 21-13 win over Mark Lamsfuss-Isabel Herttrich.
“Kian Meng and I are happy to win the first point in our first Sudirman Cup outing,” said Pei Jing.
“Although we allowed our opponents to trim our lead in the first game, we stuck to our game plan ... they also committed quite a number of mistakes.
Chong Wei then put Malaysia 2-0 up with a convincing 21-12, 21-11 win over Fabian Roth in just 34 minutes.
Malaysia also won three other matches in straight games – through Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong (men’s doubles); Goh Jin Wei (women’s singles); and Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei (women’s doubles).
Vivian was thrilled to end her losing streak in the Sudirman Cup.
“Finally, Khe Wei and I won our first point in the Sudirman Cup since the 2013 edition. We also failed to win any of our matches in 2015 (Dongguan, China),” said Vivian.
Malaysia will meet Japan today. Japan have also qualified for the quarter-finals after defeating Germany 4-1 on Sunday.
If Malaysia beat Japan, they will enter the quarter-finals as group champions.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the elimination round. A fresh draw will be conducted after the group ties.
“It’ll be tougher against Japan. They have good women shuttlers. Everything went well for us against Germany, so we’re hoping for the same tomorrow (today),” said Vivian.
Meanwhile, India created the biggest upset of the day when they defeated Indonesia 4-1 in their opening Group D tie yesterday.
Indonesia now must beat Denmark in the final Group D match today in order to make the quarter-finals. Denmark have beaten India 4-1 on Monday.