Indonesia, riding on their strength in the doubles, handed Malaysia a 3-2 defeat in their opening Group D match in the Uber Cup Finals at the Impact Arena in Bangkok on Monday.
The defeat dealt Malaysia a serious blow in their quest to reach the quarter-finals from the group which also has 14-time winners and defending champions China and minnows France.
Malaysia paid a heavy price for reshuffling their doubles pairs but the strategy backfired. However, credit must be given to the Malaysian women for their gritty performance against the odds.
Malaysia’s top women’s shuttler Soniia Cheah staged a remarkable fightback in her come-from-behind 10-21, 21-17, 21-14 win over Fitriani Fitriani in the first singles to give the team a 1-0 led.
However, it was all square when Indonesia won the first doubles through Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu, defeating Malaysia’s scratch pair of Goh Yea Ching-Lee Meng Yean 21-13, 21-14.
Any’ hopes of a Malaysia fightback disappeared when Goh Jin Wei, playing second singles, fell to a 20-22, 16-21 defeat to Gregoria Mariska in the “battle of junior world champions” which lasted 36 minutes.
Jin Wei won the world junior title in 2015 in Peru while Mariska won the title in Jakarta last year.
Indonesia also took the second doubles through their world No 11 Della Destiara Haris-Rizki Amelia Pradipta. The Indonesian pair carved out a 24-22, 20-22, 21-12 win over Chow Mei Kuan-Vivian Hoo after a marathon 79 minutes.
It was left to debutant S. Kisona to give some respectability to the scoreline in her 21-23, 23-21, 21-13 win over Ruselli Hartawan in the third singles and last match of the tie.
Meanwhile, China, the defending champions and 14-time winners of the Uber Cup showed their might with a 5-0 romp of France in another Group D match. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
RESULTS (UBER CUP)
GROUP D
Indonesia 3 Malaysia 2
(Indonesia first)
WS1: Fitriani Fitriani lost to Soniia Cheah 21-10, 17-21, 14-21
WD1: Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu beat Goh Yea Ching-Lee Meng Yean 21-13, 21-14
WS2: Gregoria Mariska beat Goh Jin Wei 22-20, 21-16
WD2: Della Destiara Haris-Rizki Amelia Pradipta beat Chow Mei Kuan-Vivian Hoo 24-22, 20-22, 21-12
WS3: Ruselli Hartawan lost to S.Kisona 23-21, 21-23, 13-21
China 5 France 0
(China first)
WS1: He Bingjiao beat Yaelle Hoyaux 21-14, 21-13
WD1: Huang Dongping-Yu Zheng beat Emilie Lefel-Anne Tran 21-19, 21-9
WS2: Gao Fangjie beat Marie Batomene 21-8, 21-10
WD2: Huang Yaqiong-Tang Jinhua beat Delphine Delrue-Lea Pulermo 21-8, 21-14
WS3: Li Xuerui beat Katia Normand 21-9, 21-13
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