As expected it was a walk in the park for Malaysia against Algeria, registering an easy 5-0 win over Africans champions in their second Group D match in the Thomas Cup Finals at Impact Arena in Bangkok on Tuesday.
In the first match on Monday, the Malaysians beat Russia 5-0. However, against the Algerians, Malaysia threw in their reserves and was still good enough for their opponents.
Asian Junior champion Leong Jun Hao was thrilled to bits in his Thomas Cup debut after winning his match against Adel Hamek in the third singles with a 21-13, 21-8 win in 23 minutes. It was Malaysia’s third point in the tie.
Earlier, Lee Zii Jia was moved up to first singles in place of Lee Chong Wei and the Kedahan did not disappoint. He defeated Youcef Sabri Medel 21-6, 21-13.
Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin won his second singles match against Mohamed Abderrahime Belarbi 21-7, 21-9 in 27 minutes.
Malaysia also rested their top doubles pair Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong. Instead, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik took over the job as the number one contributed the fifth point with a 21-11, 21-15 win over Abderrahime Belarbi-Adel.
Arif Latif was paired with Teo Ee Yi as the second doubles and the duo rn out easy 21-12, 21-10 over Kceila Mammeri-Youcef Sabri for the whitewash.
Denmark romped to an effortless 5-0 win over Russia to advance to the quarter-finals – their second 5-0 win, having beaten Algeria by the same margin on Monday. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
RESULTS (THOMAS CUP)
GROUP D
Malaysia 5 Algeria 0
(Malaysia first)
MS1: Lee Zii Jia beat Youcef Sabri Medel 21-6, 21-13
MS2: Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin beat Mohamed Abderrahime Belarbi 21-7, 21-9
MS3: Leong Jun Hao beat Adel Hamek 21-13, 21-8
MD2: Arif Latif-Teo Ee Yi beat Koceila Mammeri-Youcef Sabri 21-12, 21-0
MD1: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik beat Abderrahime Belarbi-Adel Hamek 21-11, 21-15
Denmark 5 Russia 0
(Denmark first)
MS1: Viktor Axelsen beat Vladimir Malkov 21-14, 21-3
MD1: Mads Conrad-Petersen-Mads Pieler Koding beat Vladimir Ivanov-Ivan Sozonov 21-17, 21-12
MS2: Hans-Kristian Vittinghus beat Sergey Sirant 21-17, 21-11
MD2: Kim Astrup-Anders Skarup Rasmussen beat Evgenij Dremin-Denis Grachev 21-12, 21-12
MS3: Jan O Jorgensen beat Rodion Alimov 21-6, 21-5
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