Hyderabad: Three Men’s singles players Zulfadli Zulkiffli, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin, Soong Joo Ven sealed a quarter-final berth for Malaysia in the Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) on Wednesday as Japan (Group B) and Indonesia (Group C) also joined already qualified India, China from Group A and Korea, Hong Kong from Group D.
In the tie against Nepal, Zulfadli Zulkiffli, the World No. 38, spearheaded Malaysia’s first men’s singles challenge and claimed a 21-5, 21-5 victory over Sajan Krishna Tamrakar in just 17 minutes.
Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin then needed only 15 minutes to completely outgunned Bishnu Katwal 21-3, 21-4.
Soong Joo Ven kept the Malaysia’s victory in check as he held off Nabin Shrestha to win 21-9, 21-12 and clinched the third point for his team.
In the next two men’s doubles matches that had no impact in determining the winner of the tie, Malaysia’s Low Juan Shen/Tan Kian Meng trashed Bishnu Katwal/Bikash Shrestha with a 21-8, 21-6 victory while Tan Chee Tean/Tan Wee Gieen dismissed Sudeep Sedhai/Sajan Krishna Tamrakar 21-6, 21-12.
Malaysia men’s team will play Japan in their final group tie on Thursday to decide who would be the champions of Group B.
Below are the Day 3 Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) Results:
MEN
Group A: India beat Singapore 5-0
Group B: Japan beat Sri Lanka 5-0
Group B: Malaysia beat Nepal 5-0
Group C: Indonesia beat Chinese Taipei 3-2
Group C: Thailand beat Maldives 5-0
Group D: Hong Kong beat Philippines 4-1
WOMEN
Group C: Indonesia beat Maldives 5-0
Group D: India beat Singapore 5-0
