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CHENGDU: Malaysia pulled off the impossible to stun Japan to reach the semi-finals in the Thomas Cup Finals.
On Thursday, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani turned heroes when they fought brilliantly to beat Akira Koga-Taichi Saito 18-21, 21-15, 21-12 in the second doubles to give Malaysia the third and winning point 3-1.
Malaysia ended an eight-year wait as they last reached the semis in 2016.
They will face mighty China in the last four battle on Saturday. China defeated defending champions India 3-1 in another quarter-final tie.
Professional shuttler Lee Zii Jia got Malaysia off to a ruthless start against Japan in the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup Finals by crushing Kenta Nishimoto 21-13, 21-3 in the first singles on Thursday (May 2).
Japan pulled off a surprise by fielding their second ranked Nishimoto instead of Kodai Naraoka and Zii Jii took advantage of the situation by leading all the way to blow away his out-of-sort opponent in just 33 minutes at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Arena in Chengdu.
It was Zii Jia’s eighth win in 11 meetings against the Japanese.
“I’m definitely very happy to win the first point for the team,” said Zii Jia.
“Nishimoto made a lot of unforced errors in the second game to be honest. I’m not sure what went wrong for him.
“For me, I’m just glad that I could win the game quickly.”
Said a dejected Nishimoto: “Coaches felt that fielding me as the first singles was the best strategy. I tried but Zii Jia was very aggressive in the second game and I lost many consecutive points. I wasn’t injured.”
The world No. 10 Zii Jia’s fine form must have motivated doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik as they gave Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi a rude shock by taking the opening game 21-18.
Then both pairs tried to outwit each other in the battle between the former world champions but at the end Aaron-Wooi Yik went down fighting 21-18, 14-21, 19-21 to give Japan the equalizer.
World No. 5 Aaron-Wooi Yik did superb in the deciding game when they came back from 14-19 down to make it 19-19 but could not finish the game.
“We started well but the Japanese pair put more pressure on us in the second and third games,” said captain Wooi Yik
“Most importantly, we could not get the points during the crucial moment in the third game although we caught up after trailing and we are disappointed.”
The Malaysians have yet to beat the Japan’s top pair since their win at the Sudirman Cup in 2021.
The odds were against world No. 37 Leong Jun Hao in the second singles but he swiftly restored Malaysia’s advantage after stunning world No. 22 Koki Watanabe 21-13, 21-10.
Jun Hao stayed cool to control the match well throughout to claim the win in just 35 minutes.
It was sweet revenge for the 24-year-old after losing to Watanabe in the semi-finals of the Asia Team Championships in February.
“I’m happy with my performance just now,” said Jun Hao.
“This is my best performance in the tournament so far and I’m quite satisfied.
“I managed to stay consistent during the whole match and kept the pressure on Watanabe.”
