Malaysia stuns Japan to reach Thomas Cup semis after eight-year hiatus

Men’s doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani turned heroes for the team after recovering from a game down against Akira Koga-Taichi Saito to deliver the winning point in the fourth match and send Malaysia to the last four. – Photo by BAM

CHENGDU – Malaysia stormed into the semi-finals of the 2024 Thomas Cup after sending 2014 champions Japan packing with a 3-1 win in a quarter-final match held at Chengdu High Tech-Zone Sports Centre, Chengdu, China.

Malaysia will face China in the semi-finals on Saturday after the Chinese beat defending champion India 3-1 in another quarter-final encounter.

The win which ended an eight-year, came about when the country’s second men’s doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani turned heroes for the team after recovering from a game down against Akira Koga-Taichi Saito to deliver the winning point in the fourth match and send Malaysia to the last four, thus keeping the country’s hopes of ending a 32-year-old title drought.

The mysterious absence of Japan’s main singles player Kodai Naraoka, had boosted the national team’s confidence, particularly as professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia kicked off today’s highly anticipated encounter in style by outplaying Kenta Nishimoto for the first point.

Zii Jia had a fine start when he raced to a 11-9 lead and took control after the interval before the world number 10 went on to win the opening game 21-13.

A series of wayward shots and faults at net play took the toll on the Japanese as Zii Jia enjoyed a handsome 15-point lead at 17-2 in the second game and closed it out with a whopping 21-3 victory in 33 minutes to put Malaysia 1-0 ahead.

In the second match, Malaysia’s top men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik endured a closely-fought first game against Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi as both pairs traded points with each other until 17-17 before the Malaysians prevailed 21-18.

However, the Malaysians let slip their first game victory, allowing the world number six Japanese pair to keep their cool and level the tie for Japan after taking the next two games, 21-14, 21-19 and in the process extend their head-to-head record to 8-2.

Malaysia reclaimed the lead when the country’s third singles and world number 37 player Leong Jun Hao stunned Koki Watanabe, ranked 22nd, in the third match.

The 24-year-old was unrattled after trailing 1-4, as he slowly built his confidence to equalize at 9-9 and subdue his opponent 21-13.

Jun Hao was truly on fire in the second set, leading Watanabe, 18-8 and kept piling the pressure on with a sublime offensive display to dismiss the 25-year-old, 21-10 and contribute the second point for Malaysia.

Buoyed by Jun Hao’s win, Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin put up a sizzling performance as they turned the tables on the Japanese pair after losing 18-21 in the opening game to fight back and triumph in the next two games.

The Malaysians displayed a high level of fighting spirit to drag the game into the decider after taking the second game 21-15 and with confidence growing in every rally, the duo wrapped up the tie 21-12 when Koga failed to return Sze Fei’s shot in the match that lasted 66 minutes.

Today’s result marked Malaysia’s second consecutive win over the Japanese after having edged them 3-2 during the last Group D action in Bangkok, two years ago.

The last time Malaysia entered the last four was in the 2016 edition before they came up short to eventual champions, Denmark, 2-3 in Kunshan, China.

Malaysia opened the Group D with two massive 5-0 victories against Hong Kong, last Saturday and Algeria, last Sunday but lost the chance to top the group after losing the tie 2-3 to European powerhouse Denmark, on Tuesday. – BERNAMA