Jakarta: After falling into a tournament slump by losing to Indonesia 0-4 and Thailand 1-3, Malaysia bounced back with stellar performances on Monday to thump Europe All Stars 4-0 at the Britama Arena.
Daren Liew pulled off a great escape as he rallied from behind when trailing 5-11 in the decider to snatch victory from Frenchman Brice Leverdez with 21-13, 14-21, 21-18 in 52 minutes.
In the women’s singles event, Tee Jing Yi of Malaysia put on a resilient performance to over Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour in a three-set thriller to contribute the second point for Malaysia. Tee Jing Yi who lost to Gilmour at the Glasgow Commonwealth Game in August after wasting a 19-11 lead in the second game, seemed set to suffer the same fate when Gilmour started to close in at 13-17 in the decider. Nevertheless, Tee calmly weathered a fierce Gilmour storm to triumph with 21-11, 14-21, 21-18.
Riding the momentum from the first two victories, Malaysia’s scratch pair Tan Boon Heong-Tan Wee Kiong dismantled Russians Valdimir Ivanov-Ivan Sozonov’s relentless attacks piece by piece to walk away head held high with 21-23, 21-8, 21-12 in favor of the Malaysian pair.
Chan Peng Soon-Lai Pei Jing who had lost to Robert Blair-Imogen Bankier in the mixed team event at the Commonwealth Games exacted revenge on Monday by beating the Scottish pair 21-16, 23-21.
Despite the win, Daren Liew approached it with cautious optimism: “It would be the end for us if we lost this tie. We will keep fighting against our last two opponents – against Singapore and Philippines in the hope of winning a seat in the semi-finals.”
