SHAH ALAM, Feb 20 — The national men’s badminton squad is confident of beating traditional rivals, Indonesia in the finals here today and creating history by winning the 2022 Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) for the first time.
National men’s singles champion, Lee Zii Jia said he refused to allow the chance of playing in front of the home crowd in the Setia City Convention Centre to waste and would help Malaysia lift the 2022 BATC trophy today.
“Of course, when we reach the finals, who doesn’t want to be champions. The final target is to be champions lah,” he told reporters after having to struggle to deliver Malaysia’s first point against South Korea against Jeon Hyeok Jin, beating him 13-21, 21-13, 21-15 in a contest that lasted one hour and 17 minutes.
The All England reigning champion hoped to tidy up his gameplay, including controlling the wind on court which affected his concentration as well as reducing unforced errors to deliver the title today.
Meanwhile, men’s doubles player Soh Wooi Yik admitted to throwing his jersey to fans in a display of emotion after he and Aaron Chia emerged victorious in their nail-biting 21-14, 20-22, 21-19, three-set encounter against Kim Hwi Tae-Kim Jaehwan, making up for their bad performance against Japanese pair Ayato Endo-Yuta Takei on Friday.
World seven-best doubles pair, Aaron-Wooi Yik, lost to the 857th world-ranked Japanese pair 21-23, 16-21, in the last Group B match on Friday.
“Yesterday we lost to a lower-ranked pair and I was obviously uncomfortable with the defeat but I am satisfied winning this game,” he said.
Aaron meanwhile hoped that his teammates remained focused on winning the 2022 BATC as they had the advantage of fielding the main squad compared to Indonesia, which fielded their second squad in this edition.
Fellow national singles player Ng Tze Yong, who secured the winning point after beating Kim Joo Wan 19-21, 21-16, 21-12, is hoping that he can put on a better performance during the finals.
“Not just a must win (final) but of course, we will fight until the end,” he said.
The other semi-final match witnessed defending champions Indonesia defeating Singapore 3-2 and remain on track in their hunt for a fourth consecutive title as they take on Malaysia today.
— Bernama
