Feb 20: NST MALAYSIA emerged champions of the Thomas Cup Asian Zone qualifying round when they edged South Korea 3-2 in the final in Jaipur, India yesterday. The singles players lived up to expectation yet again winning all three points as the doubles failed to deliver a single point. Lee Chong Wei, Hafiz Hashim and Kuan Beng Hong, who delivered in the 3-2 win against Indonesia in the semi-final on Saturday, were on song again. Chong Wei gave Malaysia an encouraging start when he beat Lee Hyun Il 21-10, 21-17 in the first singles. Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat then continued with their below par performance in the tournament when they crashed 20-22, 20-22 to Lee Jae Jin-Han Sang Hoon in the first doubles. Hafiz had to battled hard to put Malaysia ahead in the second singles before winning 21-23, 23-21, 21-7 against Park Sung Hwan. Lee Jae Jin-Lee Yong Dae kept South Korea in the match when they secured a 17-21, 21-13, 21-15 win over Lin Woon Fui-Fairuizuan Tazari in the second doubles to level the score. Beng Hong then clinched Malaysia’s victory when he outplayed Lee Cheol Ho 21-15, 21-12 in the third singles. Meanwhile, South Korea became the Uber Cup Asian Zone champions when they beat Taiwan 3-0 in the final. Malaysia had a disappointing outing where they could only manage a fifth placing and missed out on a place in the finals. They can only qualify if any of the Asian teams withdraw from the final round, something which is highly unlikely. RESULTS — Thomas Cup: Malaysia 3 South Korea 2 (Lee Chong Wei bt Lee Hyun Il 21-10, 21-17; Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat lost to Lee Jae Jin-Han Sang Hoon 20-22, 20-22; Hafiz Hashim bt Park Sung Hwan 21-13, 23-21, 21-7; Lin Woon Fui-Fairuzizuan Tazari lost to Lee Jae Jin-Lee Yong Dae 21-17, 13-21, 15-21; Kuan Beng Hong bt Lee Cheol Ho 21-15, 21-12). Uber Cup: South Korea 3 Taiwan 0 (Seo Yoon Hee bt Huang Chia Hsin 21-13, 21-13; Lee Yun Hwa bt Chiu Yi Ju 21-8, 21-14; Lee Kyung Won-Ha Jung Eun bt Cheng Wen Hsing-Chien Yu Chin 21-17, 29-27).
While its nice for MAS to be the Asian Q Zone Champion but it will be much better to be TC champion. MAS double players are still not consistent especially Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat. Hard to believe they are ranked number 10 in the world
Congratulations!Keep up the good work, especially all the singles players.KBH did very well to clinch the winning points again Indonesia and South Korea.The doubles players need to go extra gear to make sure Malaysia have a realistic chance to win theT/C.All the best.Have faith in yourselves and I am sure you gonna prove a lot of sceptics wrong.1992 is still fresh in most Malaysians memories.Let it happen again this year in Tokyo.
I join kokcheng in congratulating Malaysia. With Beng Hong winning all his matches, Malaysia's singles department has indeed strengthened further. Hafiz again has proven to be a very dependable team player. And LCW's confidence level must have soared when he eliminated both Taufik and Lee Hyun Il. This confidence will flow to the doubles and I wouldn't rule out the younger pair of Lin & Tazari, who are gaining more experience from this competition. They still have about two more months to be polished up by their Indonesian coach before the finals in Tokyo. The team's target should be to beat China.
As Yap Kim Hock announced early, Malaysia's target in this TC is reach to semi-final. If not my mistaken, he announced this on last year around August - September??? But now, maybe he should target the team at least reach to Final. Should force the players hard .... even push them to bring back the Thomas Cup. I am sure when in Japan, we will have Lee Wan Wah & Chong Tang Fok in the second doubles which probably will earn one point for Malaysia.
firstly, i want to congrat mas team i hope indo will meet mas again in japan . i don't know lcw and young mas md can handle pressure in the final and also i think they're the point of mas weakness
Congratulation for mas team. Malaysia has a great team squad right now. and it makes the Thomas Cup more competitive. It's cool so, other country team gonna be alert to mas team. Malaysia hebat ya
ms is the indo weakness, three of them lost to mas. thomas cup team format is 3MS + 2MD,so with ina weakness (MS) can't bring thomas cup back, but mas weakness (MD) still can win thomas cup as long as they win 3MS
not only he was not in the mood in india, BUT he will NOT be in the mood as long as 21-rally scoring system in place, so you know what it means when come to thomas cup finals in Japan
I agree with you. In fact Kim Hock as the HEAD should set the target as high as possible - the WINNER. Once the leader sets a target and be serious about it, I guess the 'followers' will try their best to achieve the target. Why not rite? The doubles better buck up and must not be the weak link as it was. I still have faith in them this time around On taufik, imho, I believe he still has the potential. Two losses in the TC Qual should mean nothing to him. I think he'll bounce back.
If Lee Wan Wah recovers from injury, Choong/Lee will win the second MD against any country I think. So Malaysia will definately be one of the hot favourites. Of course, we shouldn't forget titleholders China weren't playing in the qualifications...
Fat hope. There'll be no way Indon gonna beat MAS 5-0. Even MAS send out school boys there's no way 5-0 gonna be the score.
It has been very interesting to see the matches: Ina vs Mas Ina vs China Ina vs Denmark All matches involving INA team have always been interesting and entertaining to watch. It is just like: Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Freizer, and Spinks or in soccer: Argentine, Brasil, Italy and Germany
????? Italy and Germany are entertaining to watch????? We haven't seen the same games then!! About Thomas Cup, all matches between the best teams will be very interesting to watch. We can't say the same about Uber Cup though... (China smashes everyone)