TheStar
VANCOUVER: Malaysia's top badminton junior pair of Tan Boon Heong-Hoon Thien How gave a good fight but it was not good enough to prevent a 5-0 defeat by top seed China in the final Group W tie in the World Junior Team Championships at Minoru Arena here.

With the defeat, Malaysia finished second in the Group W. They will now take on Group X runners-up and can at best finish at fifth place.

In the tie against China, Boon Heong-Thien How went down fighting 8-15, 17-16, 10-15 to Shen Ye-He Hanbin after a 86-minute marathon.

They had lost to the same pair in the quarter-finals of the Asian Junior Championships in South Korea in July.

Defending world junior champion Chen Jin proved to be a class above Tan Chun Seang in the boys singles, carving out a 15-2, 15-11 win.

Amelia Anscelly, who was fielded in the girls singles, mixed doubles pair of Thien How-Chiou Hwee and the girls doubles pair of Anita Raj Kaur-Amelia lost their respective matches in less than 30 minutes each.

The mighty China will now take on Indonesia for a place in the final while the other semi-final will be between South Korea and Taiwan.





Group W: China bt Malaysia 5-0 (Shen Ye-Yu Yang bt Hoon Thien How-Haw Chiou Hwee15-1, 15-6; Lu Lan bt Amelia Anscelly 11-6, 11-6, Chen Jin bt Tan Chun Seang 15-2, 15-11, Shen Ye-He Hanbin (Chn) bt Thien How-Tan Boon Heong 15-8, 16-17, 15-10, Pan Pan-Feng Chen bt Anita Raj Kaur-Amelia Anscelly 15-0, 15-30); Slovenia bt Peru 3-2.

Standings: 1. China, 2. Malaysia, 3. Slovenia, 4. Peru.

Group X

Subgroup 1: Indonesia bt Russia 5-0

Subgroup 2: Denmark bt Sweden 5-0

Standings: 1. Indonesia, 2. Denmark, 3. Russian, 4. Sweden, 5. Canada, 6. Czech Republic

Group Y

Subgroup 1: England bt Singapore 5-0

Subgroup 2: Taiwan bt Holland 4-1

Standings: 1. Taiwan, 2. England, 3. India, 4. Singapore, 5. Holland, 6. United States.

l Group Z: Germany bt Japan 4-1; South Korea bt Hong Kong 5-0; South Korea bt Japan 5-0; Germany bt Hong Kong 3-2

Standings: 1. South Korea, 2. Germany, 3. Hong Kong, 4. Japan