Malaysia’s hopes of making tomorrow’s finals were crushed after a 3-0 defeat to Korea in the women’s team semifinal match at the Setia City Convention Centre here today.
Korea, 2020 runner-up, will once again take on Group Z champion Indonesia, who made into the final without breaking any sweat following Japan’s last-minute withdrawal from the semifinal this morning.
According to the organisers, Japan were forced to concede a walkover against Indonesia as several of its players were unfit to play.
Both Korea and Indonesia were pitted together in Group Z. While Indonesia won all their three ties, Korea will be looking to exact revenge following their 3-2 defeat to the Indonesians.
Prior to this, Indonesia’s best results in the tournament was the semifinals in the 2018 edition in Alor Setar, Kedah.
In today’s semifinal match, fans had high hopes of seeing the Malaysian women through following their fine run in group encounters, winning two matches over Japan and India.
However, S. Kisona stumbled in her first tie, with Sim Yujin needing only 38 minutes to send the Malaysian packing with a 21-16, 21-17 win.
“Overall, it was a good game I made numerous unforced errors. I need to be quicker in my moves, make quick on-court decisions and will continue to improve my game,” said Kisona after the match.
Scratch pair Pearly Tan/Valeree Siow then stepped onto the courts, seeking to turn the tables on world number 14 Ha Na Baek-Seung Yon Seong. The Malaysians gave the Koreans a run for their money in the early part of the game but eventually fizzled out and fell 21-15, 21-14 in 36 minutes.
It was then up to 311th-ranked Siti Nurshuhaini Azman to prove herself and prevent Lee Se Yon from clinching the winning point. After losing 21-11 in the first game, Siti Nurshuhaini kept Malaysia’s hope alive with a convincing play to win the second game 21-15. Lee quickly raised her game in the rubber, forcing Siti Nurshuhaini into mistakes before winning 21-11 and put Korea throught into their second successive finals.
Despite their semifinals failure, Malaysia, along with Indonesia, Korea and Japan are already guaranteed of their plces in the 2022 Uber Cup Finals in May.
Meanwhile, Indonesian singles coach Herli Djaenudin said the team were shocked when learnt that Japan have conceded a walkover. “We are all psyched up to take on Japan today but were told this morning that they will not be playing. My players are all in good shape and ready for the finals,” said Herli.
BATC 2022, organised by the Selangor Sports Council, is hosted by the Selangor State Government and in collaboration with Badminton Asia and Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) and ends on Sunday, February 20.
