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 BangkokĀ on Monday.Ā
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Jin Wei won the world junior title in 2015 in Peru while Mariska won the title in Jakarta last year.
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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.
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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.
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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
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RESULTS (UBER CUP)
GROUP D
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IndonesiaĀ Ā 3Ā Ā Ā MalaysiaĀ Ā 2
(Indonesia first)
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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, 13-21Ā Ā Ā Ā
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ChinaĀ Ā 5Ā Ā FranceĀ Ā 0
(China first)
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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 BatomeneĀ 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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