BY: Michelle Liew
Malaysia has beated Japan 3-1 in Group D of the Thomas Cup match at Impact Arena, Bangkok, yesterday.
The victory enabled Malaysia to top Group D and advance to the quarterfinals as champions while Japan were runners-up.
The national team’s victory points were scored in the fourth action through the Aaron Chia-Teo Ee Yi duo who defeated the Akira Koga-Yuta Watanabe pairing, 22-20, 21-17 in 50 minutes.
Earlier, the national squad obtained the first point through singles player, Lee Zii Jia who beat Kento Momota 21-17, 21-8.
It was followed by the second point through Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani who overcame Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi 21-19, 21-16 in 46 minutes.
Japan earned a single point through the victory of second singles player, Kanta Tsuneyama who defeated Liew Daren 21-16, 22-20 in an hour.
The fifth match involved Leong Jun Hao and Kenta Nishimoto and the duo dragged the match to rubber game before bowing out 21-6, 19-21, 21-15. This result, however, did not affect the national squad’s victory over Japan.
