Our Uber Cup team give S. Korea a run for their money

Tough fight: South Korea’s Lee Kyung-won

MALAYSIA’s campaign in the Uber Cup campaign ended in the quarter-finals after a battling display against South Korea at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta last night.

In the 1-3 defeat, Wong Mew Choo put Malaysia in the lead with an inspiring victory over Hwang Hye-youn. But the Koreans rode on their better experience to emerged as winners.

Although the national women’s team failed to achieve the target of reaching the semi-finals, they can bow out with their pride intact for equalling their best achievement in the Uber Cup series.

The Malaysians’ previous appearance in the Uber Cup knockout stage was when they lost 0-3 to China in Jakarta four years ago.

“Although I am disappointed that we failed to go further in the tournament, there is no shame in our overall performance in Jakarta.

“We proved that we are able to compete with the leading countries in the Uber Cup competition,” said Mew Choo.

“The team can return to Malaysia with the satisfaction that we had given our best.”

Last night, the national shuttlers failed to produce a performance that could take them past an undoubtedly superior South Korean side, who are the third seeds. Malaysia had in the previous day eliminated second seeds Japan 3-0 in the quarter-finals.

The Lim Pek Siah-Wong Pei Tty scratch partnership were dwarfed in every sense of the word by the lanky Lee Hyo-jung-Kim Min-jung in the first doubles. They were second best in all aspects and went down 13-21, 4-21 in just 28 minutes.

Hopes were on Julia Wong to rise to the occasion but the national champion failed for the second consecutive day, going down 14-21, 13-21 to Lee Yun-hwa.

The Chin Eei Hui-Ng Hui Lin second doubles partnership, playing in a competitive match together for the first time, brought temporary relief to the national camp when they took the first game against Lee Kyung-won-Ha Jung-eun 21-17. But the Malaysian duo ran out of steam in the next two games, losing 16-21, 12-21.

Malaysia, who were seeded fourth in the Finals, won two and lost two ties in their campaign in Jakarta.

In the group ties, they beat New Zealand 5-0 but lost 2-3 against Denmark.

South Korea will take on defending champions China today for a place in the final. China surprisingly were made to struggle by Holland before winning 3-2.

The other semi-final is between Indonesia and Germany, who scored a surprise 3-0 win over Denmark.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 1:12 PM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0