Feb 17 TheStar JAIPUR: Malaysia's women shuttlers created history last night, beating Indonesia for the first time in a team event and keeping alive their hopes of winning win a ticket to the Uber Cup Finals. After a demoralising loss to Taiwan in the opening Group A tie on Wednesday, the spirited Malaysian girls rose to the occasion to defeat Indonesia 3-2 in the Asian Zone qualifiers at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here to add to their 5-0 trouncing of Iran earlier. The win over the Indons set up an intriguing final day for the contenders vying for the two places in the group to the Finals in Japan from April 28-May 7. Malaysia face fancied South Korea in a must-win situation while Taiwan and Indonesian face off in the other tie. If Taiwan lost, Malaysia can go through by beating the Koreans by a 3-2 margin. If the Taiwanese win, Malaysia need to win 4-1 or better to make the cut. Yesterday's historical victory was earned through three straight points collected by Wong Mew Choo, Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty and Norsyahliza Baharum. The world number 12 Mew Choo notched a superb 21-11, 21-5 win over Fransisca Ratnasari. Manila SEA Games champion Pei Tty-Eei Hui extended the lead with a 21-16, 21-17 win over 2001 SEA Games gold medallists Jo Novita-Lita Nurlita before youngster Norsyahliza carved a hard-fought 21-15, 10-21, 21-19 win against Maria Kristin Yulianti to seal the win. National chief coach Yap Kim Hock was proud of the girls' fighting spirit. “Our strategy to move Norsyahliza to the second singles worked well. “It was a great achievement, beating Indonesia in a team event for the first time,” he said.
Unlikely but hopefully What's the chance that Malaysia can beat Korea 4-1 or 3-2, pretty slim. Lets hope the Malaysian girls create another new history. Malaysia Boleh! Han
I don't think it is necessary for Malaysia to beat Korea in order to qualify. This about it, if Indonesia beats Taiwan 3-2 (quite possibly), there will be 3 teams tied for second place with the same number of wins. It will come down countback so if in this situation Malaysia manages to get 1 or even 2 points from Korea that will be in the driving seat.
I think Indonesia will just let Taiwan win over with 4-1 or 5-0. Since Indonsia has no chance anymore, they will let Taiwan win easily so that makes Malaysia's chances much slimmer. We always see such strategy in soccer match.
I thought Indonesia would try to save some face rather than being "jealous" of Malaysia and do something as what you are predicting.
No.... you are wrong. If Malaysia team goes to final stage, then Indonesia team will feel more "no face" (because they fail to do it, but Malaysia success). Let, see how ..... But I am dare to stand with my point. Indonesia will lose in 4-1 or 5-0.
It depends on whether they want to lose face to Malaysia or to Chinese Taipei. Yes, if they have to choose among the two, they would rather let Malaysia (as a neighbouring country and may pose a threat to them at future SEA Games) fail. However, losing to Chinese Taipei means that they will be ranked 4th in the round-robin competition, only above Iran, which is an even bigger face to lose (as the ranking will make them look like a third-rated team in the sports, which is very very demoralising, while the world knows that Malaysia and CT are improving). So, we shouldn't just look at the eventual result (in case the present Indon team is indeed inferior to CT) but see whether Indon girls do fight hard at the ties.
I agree with your argument. I don't think Indonesia will let Chinese Taipei beat them easily. Indonesia will qualify if they beat Chinese Taipei 4-1 or better while Korea beat Malaysia 5-0.
