Thomas-Uber Cup: Malaysia's girls go down to Singapore

Tee Jing Yi returns a shot to Singapore’s Gu Juan yesterday. Jing Yi won 21-13, 10-21, 21-15. Pic by Owee Ah Chun

MALAYSIA completed their Uber Cup campaign in eighth place after losing to Singapore 3-2 in Macau yesterday.
Tee Jing Yi decided to produce her best in the meaningless tie by beating Gu Juan 21-13, 10-21, 21-15 in the first singles.
Singapore drew level in the first doubles when Yao Lei-Shinta Mulia Sari defeated Goh Liu Ying-Lim Yin Loo 21-13, 21-16 while Sea Games champion Fu Mingtian outplayed Sannatasah Saniru 21-12, 21-15 in the second singles.

Malaysia drew level by winning the second doubles when Vivian Hoo-Wong Pei Tty beat Chen Jiayuan-Thng Ting Ting 21-14, 21-17 but Liang Xiaoyu denied Malaysia their second victory in the qualifiers when she beat Yang Li Lian 21-14, 21-17.

Malaysia's only victory in the qualifying rounds was against India who they beat 3-2.

Women's doubles coach Rexy Mainaky said the players had already lost hope after going down to Hong Kong in the round robin playoff on Friday which ended their chances of qualifying for the final rounds.

"They have lost hope and the continuous defeats also affected their confidence. We have to look forward and try prepare a stronger team," said Rexy.

"The doubles have shown improvement but we still have a lot to do and must bring the younger pairs to the next level."

Indonesia defeated Hong Kong 4-1 to top the round robin playoff and their place in the Uber Cup will be determined by their overall world ranking compared to the fourth-placed team from Europe.

Japan, Taiwan and Thailand have qualified for the Uber Cup Finals.
Courtesy of New Straits Times