Men’s team fail to beat China in title defence
SHAH ALAM: The absence of men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia hit the team hard in the final of the Asia Team Championships.

World No. 10 Zii Jia, who was floored by his sinus problem, could only watch on helplessly from the sidelines as his teammates went down 0-3 to China in the title match at the Setia City Convention Centre yesterday.

The team were already missing world No. 15 Ng Tze Yong, who was struggling with a back issue.

World No. 38 Leong Jun Hao was promoted to first singles and he did give a good account of himself before going down 19-21, 17-21 to China’s world No. 16 Weng Hongyang.

Jun Hao stayed close to Hongyang throughout the match and fought back from 17-20 to 19-20 in the first game before his flick serve went wide and gave the Chinese the winning point.

In the second game, Jun Hao tried to make a comeback but Hongyang stayed ahead and came away with the win to give his country the lead.

“It was a tough challenge for me. My coaches only informed me in the morning that I will be playing in the first singles,” said Jun Hao.

Simply unbelievable: China’s Xie Haonan-Zeng Weihan celebrating after beating Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik during the men’s doubles clash. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star

“I was surprised but I knew I was going to play anyway, so I just prepared myself as best as I could.

“I made a mistake and wasted an opportunity to level the first game at 20-20 and this made it harder for me to win the match.”

Expectations were then high on world No. 5 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik to bring the team level but the duo suffered a shock 16-21, 21-16, 21-23 defeat at the hands of 90th ranked Xie Haonan-Zeng Weihan.

Aaron-Wooi Yik could have won the match when leading 20-19 in the third game but could not take the chance.

“There was less pressure on our opponents and they played very well,” said Aaron.

“We tried everything to win but perhaps we were a bit unlucky to lose.”

Nineteen-year-old Eogene Ewe then faced an uphill battle to save the tie when he took on world No. 35 Lei Lanxi.

Eogene found Lanxi too hot to handle and went down 10-21, 14-21 to hand the win to China.

The defeat meant that Malaysia did not manage to defend the title won in the last edition in 2022 in the same venue when the team led by Zii Jia and Tze Yong beat Indonesia 3-0 in the final.

Meanwhile, it was China’s first men’s team title since the tournament’s inception in 2016.
Badminton,Asia Team Championships,Shah Alam
SHAH ALAM: The absence of men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia hit the team hard in the final of the Asia Team Championships.