BANGKOK: It was the moment of heartbreak for Malaysia.
When India’s third singles Prannoy H.S. delivered the winning point, thanks to his powerful shot against upcoming young national shuttler Leong Jun Hao’s right, the whole nation was completely stunned by Malaysia’s 2-3 humbling loss to India in the last eight of the 2022 Thomas Cup Finals, here.
After successfully battering England and United States of America with identical 5-0 scoreline, which automatically helped Malaysia to qualify into the last eight, many were sceptical that the national team could beat 2014 champions and hot favourites, Japan, in the last tie to determine the Group D champion.
And they passed the test with flying colours, edging Japan, 3-2, to top Group D, last Wednesday.
Malaysians erupted with joy and confidence started to grow that this could be the perfect time to end 30 years of agonising title drought since the national team last won the Thomas Cup in 1992 back in Kuala Lumpur.
But in a quick turn of events, Malaysia faltered yet again at the hands of eventual champions, India, a day later.
Most of the fans believed that Malaysia would have won the tie should they have applied the right strategy, especially in the doubles, as this was the advantage that the national team had as compared to the singles camp, except for Lee Zii Jia.
Many had raised eyebrows as to why world number 13 Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin were picked as the main doubles against Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty before the Malaysian duo lost 19-21, 15-21.
After trailing 0-1, Satwiksairaj-Chirag’s victory inspired India to stun Malaysia and the rest became history.
However, Badminton Association of Malaysia Doubles Coaching Director Rexy Mainaky said he wanted to keep the momentum going after Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin enjoyed a clean record including scoring an upset over world number four Japanese pair Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi, 21-19, 21-16 before they lost to Satwiksairaj-Chirag.
Perhaps, Rexy was right as he knew much better in assessing his charges.
One thing that Malaysian players must improve is they must possess greater fighting spirit like what the Indian team had, which motivated them to clinch their maiden Thomas Cup, here at the Impact Arena.
In fact, underdogs India defied the odds as they stunned 2016 champions, Denmark, 3-2, in the semis and 14-time champions, Indonesia, 3-0 to cap off their fairy tale run on a high note.
In this regard, Badminton Association of Malaysia’s high performance director Dr Tim Jones said it has not always been in the case of training harder but more clever instead so as to help the players to deal with emotions and high pressure while on the court.
Apart from Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin losing to Satwiksairaj-Chirag, credit must be given to Rexy as the doubles did extremely well including his tactics in fielding team captain, Aaron Chia to form a partnership with Teo Ee Yi twice, against the Japanese and Indian opponents, which bore fruit.
The doubles pairs managed to win seven out of eight matches played here while there is a lots of room to improve for the singles camp due to the lack of depth in the current team.
BAM Singles Coaching Director Wong Choong Hann pointed out that the despair in Thailand had certainly opened his players’ eyes that they must have firepower and strength to play at this high level.
The Malaysian singles team notched eight wins out of 12 matches played throughout this tournament.
On the bright side, Zii Jia’s performance has certainly improved and was truly in his element as he brushed aside world number two, Kento Momota 21-17, 21-8 in the group stage and All England 2022 runner-up, Lakshya Sen, 23-21, 21-9, in the last eight tie.
If Zii Jia maintains this kind of momentum, bigger things await him including having a chance to emerge as the first Malaysian shuttler to secure the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships title, slated to be held in Tokyo, in August.
As Malaysia ended their journey in Thailand in such a disappointing way, Choong Hann, believes that the national team will bounce back stronger in the next edition in Chengdu, China, two years from now.
And the Thomas Cup title wait for Malaysia continues... - Bernama
