KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 30 — Malaysia’s bid to reach the finals of the World Junior Mixed Team Championships in Spokane, United States, fell short when it suffered a 0-3 defeat to China in yesterday’s semi-finals.
But they brought home bronze for the fourth time, after the 2006, 2008 and 2010 editions.
Earlier, the youth squad got off to a bad start when national mixed doubles Low Han Chen-Chan Wen Tse lost 11-21, 16-21 to Liao Pin Yi-Zhang Jia Han in just 27 minutes.
Men’s singles player Eogene Ewe, who was expected to put Malaysia back on track, had to accept defeat at the hands of Hu Zhe An when he was defeated in straight sets 17-21 and 14-21.
The trend continued with women’s singles player Siti Zulaikha Muhammad Azmi’s straight sets loss to Xu Wen Jing, 17-21, 18-21 in a 39-minute match.
Xu, a 13-time champion, will face Indonesia in the finals later today.
Still, the result is a proud one for Malaysia’s young squad as it was an improvement from last year, which saw Malaysia finish ninth in the mixed team competition after beating Denmark 4-1.
Malaysia won the championship in 2011 and was runner-up in the 2009, 2016, and 2017 editions.
The national youth squad will next focus on individual events in the same tournament, starting Monday.
— Bernama
