Malaysia's Thomas Cup Hopes Evaporate In Wuhan

From Ainul Huda Mohamed Saaid WUHAN, May 24 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's Thomas Cup hopes evaporated at the Wuhan Sports Complex Gymnasium after suffering a 0-3 defeat to host China in their quarterfinal encounter here today. The loss, coming on the eve of a 20-year wait since last winning the Thomas Cup in 1992, exposed how shallow Malaysia's all-round strength, minus the injured Lee Chong Wei, was. Liew Daren who was promoted to first singles in the absence of the injured Chong Wei gave a spirited display and even stole a game from four times world champion Lin Dan in the first match but eventually lost 21-17, 9-21, 5-21. The much touted doubles pair Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong, the former world number one pair also failed to match the might of the Chinese current world number one pair Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng, losing 17-21, 18-21. But any hopes of a possible fight back ended in a major disappointment as 2003 All England champion Muhammad Hafiz Hashim dished out a pathetic performance to lose 10-21, 11-21 to Chen Long in straight sets, giving the Chinese the winning point. Meanwhile, to add insult to injury, national head coach Rashid Sidek said the defeat was expected since China had fielded all its best ranked players. "We knew China were much stronger. They have all the top players...second and third ranked players in the world and it was not going to be easy to win a point," he told Malaysian reporters here Wednesday. China will now meet Japan in the semifinals since the Japanese had surprised Indonesia 3-2 in the other quarterfinal while Denmark and South Korea make up the other semifinal. -- BERNAMA