Dongguan: Malaysia were hoping that history would repeat itself in the Sudirman Cup quarter-finals after they stunned Korea 3-2 in their first tie in Group 1D four days ago. However, Malaysia came up just short on Thursday with a 1-3 loss to three-time champions Korea.
Former world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei produced a brilliant performance to knock out current world no. 5 Son Wan Ho 21-17, 21-12 to prevent a 0-3 sweep after the Koreans have won the men’s doubles, and women’s singles in earlier matches.
Malaysia were trailed 0-1 when their men’s doubles pair of Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong couldn’t repeat their heroics from last Sunday when they shocked the Korean world No. 1 pair in a 3-set victory. This time around, the Korean pair of Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong have been impressively dominant throughout the match and were able to deny Goh/Tan by winning 21-18, 21-16.
As expected, there was no contest in the women’s singles when the world No. 7 Sung Ji Hyun of Korea notched up a decisive win over Tee Jing Yi of Malaysia 21-17, 21-12 in 44 minutes.
Lee Chong Wei then kept Malaysia’s Sudirman Cup dreams alive when he trashed world no. 5 Son Wan Ho in 42 minutes.
The reigning Commonwealth Games champions Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei then conjured up hopes of a win when they took their first set against the Korean’s scratch pair Chang Ye Na/Jung Kyung Eun with 23-21. But the Korean pair edged ahead in the second set by winning 21-16. The Malaysian pair started the decider badly, they failed to curb their errors and were also rushed into some shots to allow Chang Ye Na/Jung Kyung Eun zoomed ahead from beginning until the end to make it 3-1 in favor of Korea.
In other quarter-final, tournament favorites China were never in a spot of bother against Germany on Thursday, winning 3-0 without dropping a game and booking a semifinal berth at the Sudirman Cup.
It was the second victory over the same opponents in this tournament for China as the defending champions also whitewashed Germany in their group match.
China, who have won the fifth Sudirman Cup, will meet either Indonesia or Chinese Taipei in the semifinals, while Korea will take on the winner between Denmark and Japan.
