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Singles ace, Lee Zii Jia proved too strong for Toby Penty as he raced to a comfortable 8-0 lead in the earlier stage of the opening game before taking it 21-10, and successfully put the national team 1-0 ahead with a 21-15 win in the next.
Tokyo Olympics doubles bronze medallists, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik then doubled the lead for Malaysia after they overcame a strong challenge from Ben Lane-Sean Vendy in the second game.
However, it was not plain sailing for Malaysia’s No 1 pair as they had to bounce back from a first game defeat before winning 19-21, 21-15, 21-16.
The match was delayed for over five minutes in the second game due to lighting issues but that did not affect the pair’s momentum as they put Malaysia in the driving seat.
“I think one of the doors inside the arena was open and this caused a slight glare on the court. I don’t know why the organisers took so long to resolve the situation,” Aaron said.
Aaron, the team captain, was unsatisfied with their performance especially when they went down in the first game but was glad they regained their confidence in the next two.
Rising star, Ng Tze Yong then confirmed the winning point for Malaysia after he was made to slog for 65 minutes against Johnnie Torjussen before prevailing 21-16, 19-21, 21-11.
Tze Yong, ranked 46th in the world, was gutted to having to surrender the second game to Torjussen due to a strong draft inside the venue but was pleased that he was able to find his way out to contribute the third point for the team.
German Open 2022 champions, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin kept the streak going for the national team as they outperformed Rory Easton-Zach Russ 21-13, 21-9 to make it Malaysia 4 England 0.
National third singles player, Leong Jun Hao capped off a wonderful day as he needed just 40 minutes to get past Cholan Kayan 21-11, 21-18.
Malaysia will surely eye another win against the US in their second fixture to confirm their last eight spot tomorrow after the Americans suffered a heavy 0-5 loss to hot favourites Japan in the other Group D action.
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