 While the odds appear heavily stacked against Malaysia for the first-round men’s team event against Japan tomorrow morning, the national shuttlers should take inspiration from their compatriots at football who scored a stunning upset against defending champions South Korea yesterday.
The South Koreans are the favourites again this time around and had gotten off to a smashing start against Bahrain. South Korea, with English Premier star, Son Heung Min in action, were expected to ease past Malaysia and secure their place in the next round.
But the Malaysians delivered a crushing blow to the champions, winning 2-1, to book their place in the next round. South Korea will have to win their last group game against Kyrgyzstan to ensure they move on.
Tomorrow, Malaysia will have to face Japan, whose players are higher ranked. On paper, the Japanese are the stronger side, but the Malaysians should look to the football team and believe that they too can stage a surprise. No doubt, they are affected by the absence of star Datuk Wira Lee Chong Wei, but they need to give their best tomorrow to remain on course to win a medal.
The opening singles tie tomorrow morning will be a repeat of the world championship semi-final battle between eventual winner Kento Momota of Japan and Malaysian Liew Daren. The result of this match is likely to have a huge bearing on the outcome of this first round tie.
The battle between Malaysia and Japan is expected to be intense as both sides must win today or risk missing out on a medal. The Asian Games team event is on a knock-out format.
Liew Daren will have the chance to avenge his loss but then Kento is on a high after landing the world championships crown and will not be easy to get past. Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong come on next against world No. 3 Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda before world ranked No. 10, Kenta Nishimoto, battles Lee Zii Jia.
Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi are next on court where they will take on Takuto Inoue-Yuku Kaneko, ranked seventh. The final tie, the third men’s singles match, will see Kanta Tsuneyama fighting it out with Jun Hao Leong.
The other men’s team event match in the morning session will be between Nepal and Pakistan.
In the women’s team event, Pakistan were drawn against Chinese Taipei while Maldives are up against Nepal.
The details for the evening session matches will be released later this evening.
Earlier this morning, the Team Managers’ meeting was held at the Istora Senayan. The meeting was led by Technical Delegate Greg Kim, who is also the secretary general of Badminton Asia. Referee Nahathai Sornprachum then proceeded to brief the teams on the regulations for the tournament.
