Did Malaysia play the wrong pair against Japan?

KUALA LUMPUR: Men's singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao's heroics were in vain as a tactical blunder in fielding men's doubles Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik cost Malaysia a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to Japan in Group C of the Sudirman Cup in Xiamen today.Fans were left perplexed over Malaysia's surprise choice of world No. 4 Aaron-Wooi Yik ahead of world No.

2 Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani to face former world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi. Surprising because Hoki-Kobayashi already have an overwhelming 8-2 head-to-head record against Aaron-Wooi Yik. A point in the men's doubles would have seen Malaysia beating Japan 3-2 to finish top of the group.



But Hoki-Kobayashi instead beat Aaron-Wooi Yik 12-21, 22-20, 23-21 and turned the tide against Malaysia. Shouldn't the Malaysian coaches have deployed Sze Fei-Izzuddin as they had just beaten Hoki-Kobayashi in the first round of the Asian Championships in Ningbo two weeks ago despite a close 3-2 record favouring the Japanese pair. Sze Fei-Izzuddin had also beaten Hoki-Kobayashi in a 2022 Thomas Cup group match.

In contrast, Aaron-Wooi Yik played Hoki-Kobayashi five times in team events previously, but had only won once. So, why played Aaron-Wooi Yik instead, and not Sze Fei-Izzuddin? If Malaysia face a top team in the quarter-finals — as a result of the loss to Japan which affects the draw — BAM doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky may find himself smashed by critics. Malaysia had started the day strongly, winning the mixed doubles through world No.

4 Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei who defeated scratch pair Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito 21-19, 21-18. Though not given much of a chance, world No. 26 Jun Hao unexpectedly gave Malaysia a 2-0 lead when he toppled world No.

8 Kodai Naraoka 21-8, 13-21, 21-18. And Malaysia thought they were on their way to their first win over Japan in 20 years in the world mixed team competition. As expected, world No.

43 Goh Jin Wei was beaten 21-14, 21-17 by Tomoka Miyazaki (No. 8) in the women's singles before Aaron-Wooi Yik went down to Hoki-Kobayashi to leave the score at 2-2. Japan ended the gripping day as winners when their women's doubles of world No.

2 Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida — who have a 12-2 head-to head record against world No. 5 Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah — secured a 21-18, 18-21, 21-18 win.

Malaysia now face the grim possibility of facing any of the group champions China (Group A), South Korea (Group B) or Indonesia (Group D) in the quarter-finals tomorrow. Despite the heart-wrenching outcome, Jun Hao can hold his head high for giving Malaysia a genuine chance of pulling off a victory against Japan. Jun Hao said that the draught forced him out of his comfort zone as he abandoned his tendency to start slow against Naraoka.

He never looked back after taking a 9-1 lead in the first game "There was draught on the court. So, I played more positively and aggressively. In fact, I employed the same strategy as I did against Kodai before but also based on the court conditions," said Jun Hao.

"My mindset was to fight for another point after Tang Jie-Ee Wei had won. "I wasn't consistent on the World Tour and this is one of my best performances this year, so far." Rexy and national men's doubles head coach Herry IP have now found themselves having to field the "right players" for the quarter-finals.

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