TheStar PETALING JAYA: Malaysia are just one step away from reaching the play-off for a berth in Division One of the Sudirman Cup world mixed team badminton championships. They notched their second straight win by beating minnows Russia 5-0 in a Division Two Group A tie at the National Gymnasium in Beijing yesterday. Malaysia will face a showdown with Holland today to decide winners of the group and the qualifiers for the promotion playoff against the champions of Group B. Holland also chalked up their second win yesterday, scraping past Taiwan 3-2. They beat Russia 4-1 on Tuesday. As expected, Malaysia, who defeated Taiwan 4-1 on Tuesday, had it easy for the second day running and took less than 80 minutes to take an unassailable 3-0 lead over the Russians. Top Malaysian singles player Lee Chong Wei came out to partner Chin Eei Hui for the mixed doubles match and needed only 22 minutes to hand Malaysia the first point. They defeated Vladimir Ivanov-Valeri Sorokina 15-5, 15-6. Mohd Hafiz Hashim, wearing a knee strap to protect his recently recovered ankle, had a good workout by beating Vladimir Malkov 15-1, 15-2 in the men's singles. Wong Mew Choo was given a tough fight by Ella Karachkova in the first game. But her Russian rival ran out of steam in the second game and allowed Mew Choo to cruise home 11-9, 11-0 to again hand Malaysia the winning point. Koo Kien Keat-Chan Chong Ming then outplayed Alexander Nickoleanko-Vitali Durkin 15-0, 15-8 in the men's doubles tie before Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty completed the rout of Russia with a 15-10, 15-11 win over Sorokina-Nina Vislova. From the way the Dutch team struggled against Taiwan on the adjoining court, Malaysian head coach Yap Kim Hock has reason to feel optimistic of Malaysia getting a favourable result today. “Holland conceded two points to the Taiwanese – in the mixed doubles and men's doubles. Their top women's singles player (Yao Jie) also struggled to win her match,” said Kim Hock in a telephone interview. “I think we have a 55% chance of beating them tomorrow.” Holland's Jurgen Wouters-Mia Audina crashed to a 10-15, 9-15 defeat by Tsai Chia-hsin-Chien Yu-chin in the mixed doubles match while the world number four, Yao Jie, laboured for a 11-7, 8-11, 11-8 win over 104th ranked Huang Chia-hsin. For Malaysia in their crunch tie against Holland, the opening mixed doubles match will likely decide the outcome of the battle and Kim Hock said that he would field Kien Keat-Pei Tty to carry the challenge. Malaysia should win the men's singles and doubles matches while the Dutch have the advantage in the women's singles and doubles. “This is the crucial tie and I will have to field our best line-up.” Group B will see Singapore and Japan battling it out for the promotion playoff berth. Both teams have recorded two wins each. Yesterday, Singapore crushed Ukraine 5-0 while Japan downed Germany 4-1.
Indeed, and After winning the Mens Singles/Doubles, and the Mixed, they have a place in the playoff agaisnt japan that defeated singapore by a narrow 3-2 victory
