Malaysia's Junior Shuttlers Proud Despite World Junior Team Final Loss to China
Malaysia lost 2-1 to China in the World Junior mixed team final in Cairo, but coach Hazwan Jamaluddin praised the players' fighting spirit.
Malaysia's young shuttlers came up short in their bid to end a 15-year wait for the mixed team title at the BWF World Junior Championships, losing 2-1 to China in Saturday's final at the Cairo International Stadium. Junior doubles coach Hazwan Jamaluddin said he was proud of the fight the team showed on the way to the silver medal.
China, now 16-time champions, took the opening game 55-46 and looked set to win in straight games. Low Zi Yu and Genevie Lim sparked a comeback by beating Shi Sichen and Wei Yueyue, and Malaysia took the second game 55-53 to level the tie. The decider turned out differently: Malaysia fell well behind early and could not recover, going down 55-45.
Hazwan said he had not expected the final to go to a third game, and that stealing one off China would give the players a morale boost before the individual event begins. Zi Yu admitted the loss was disappointing. She felt the gold was within reach after winning the second game, but said chasing a big deficit against a team as strong as China was always going to be hard.
Source: The Star.