Singapore Beat Malaysia 3-2 In Uber Cup Playoff

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Uber Cup squad suffered another blow when they were beaten 2-3 by Singapore in the 5th to 8th placing playoff of the Uber Cup qualifying round in Macau Sunday. It was the Uber Cup squad's third straight defeat in as many matches since they had also lost 2-3 to Hong Kong, 0-5 to Indonesia. Malaysia's two points came through Tee Jing Yi who beat Singapore's Gu Juan 21-13, 10-21, 21-15 and the women's doubles scratch pair of Vivian Khoo-Wong Pei Tty who beat Chen Jiayuan-Thng Ting Ting 21-14, 21-14. Singapore earned their first point from their doubles pair Yao Lei-Shinta Mulia Sari who beat Goh Liu Ying-Lim Yin Loo 21-13, 21-16 while Fu Mingtian contributed their second point with a 21-12, 21-15 win over Sannatasah Saniru. Liang Xiaoyu, their third singles player snatched victory and the country’s third point by beating Yang Li Lian, 21-14, 21-17. However, the result of the match had no bearing for Malaysia or Singapore as both are out of the running for a place in the Thomas & Uber Cup finals in Wuhan, China from May 20 to 27. Meanwhile, defending champion China, underlined their supremacy with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Japan to win the Thomas Cup Asian Zone qualifying, despite resting their top star Lin Dan. Chen Long, China's third ranked singles player, set the ball rolling by dispatching Japan's Sho Sasaki 21-19, 21-16 in less than an hour while Chai Biao-Guo Zhendong downed Shoji Sato-Naoki Kawamae 21-17, 22-20 for the second point. Du Pengyu completed the whitewash by beating Kazushi Yamada 21-12, 21-11 to set his team on their way to a fifth possible consecutive title since 2004. However, despite losing, Japan, together with China, Indonesia and Malaysia had already qualified for the Thomas Cup final in May. -- BERNAMA