In the last tie of the night, Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing were on fire as they went on the attack from the start to finish to overpower Hina Akechi-Riko Gunji 21-12, 21-5 for the winning point. — Bernama pic
SHAH ALAM, Feb 15 — The young national women’s team began their Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) campaign in stunning fashion, fighting back from two games down to upset defending champions Japan 3-2 in Group Y here today.
The win, at the Setia City Convention Centre, came courtesy of heroic performances from third singles shuttler Siti Nurshuhaini Azman and the two doubles pairs of Valeree Siow-Pearly Tan and Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing.
National singles ace S Kisona, ranked 64th in the world, went down 12-21, 16-21 to world number 72 Natsuri Nidaira before Japan raced to a 2-0 lead when world number 181 Riko Gunji crushed 2017 Asian Junior Championship silver medallist Eoon Qi Xuan, 21-17, 21-7.
Malaysia were deflated. Japan were delighted.
But then Siti Nurshuhaini, Valeree-Pearly and Anna-Mei Xing had other ideas.
Siti Nurshuhaini, taking to the court knowing she had to turn the tide, put up a highly-spirited performance to clinch the first point for Malaysia by disposing of Hina Akechi 21-16, 22-20.
It speaks volumes of Siti Nurshuhaini’s mental fortitude that she managed to pull off the victory, especially in the second game when she had to hold off a late fightback by Akechi.
Buoyed by Siti Nurshuhaini’s spirited display, Valeree-Pearly made a mockery of their 11th-hour combination, following the last-minute withdrawal of M Thinaah after testing positive for Covid-19, to level the tie at 2-2 with a hard-fought win over Rui Hirokami-Yuna Kato.
Scratch pair Valeree-Pearly struggled to overcome Rui Yuna 22-20 in the first game but turned on the style to win the second 21-18.
That set the stage for a grand finale and up stepped Anna-Mei Xing to cap an amazing Malaysian turnaround.
In the last tie of the night, Anna-Mei Xing were on fire as they went on the attack from the start to finish to overpower Hina Akechi-Riko Gunji 21-12, 21-5 for the winning point.
Now, make that Malaysia delighted. Japan deflated.
The Malaysian girls can now make the semi-finals if they beat India tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the national men’s team will begin campaign against Singapore in Group B.
Both the Malaysian men and women’s matches will start at 4pm.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals and automatically qualify for the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals that will take place in Bangkok in May. — Bernama