Malaysia can expect a whipping from China in their Group D tie of the Uber Cup Finals today.
Despite fielding a weaker team by resting all their Olympic Games medallists, China got off to a brilliant start in their opening tie when they thrashed Canada 5-0 without much problems and they did it all under three hours.
The Malaysian girls will stand no chance to collect even a point and it will be best to give their reserves an opportunity to play.
They can rest national No. 1 S. Kisona and field Eoon Qi Xuan (pic), K. Letshanaa and Siti Nurshuhaini Azman in the singles and allow Go Pei Kee an opportunity to play in the doubles.
National coaching director Wong Choong Hann admitted that China were a class above and hoped their younger players would gain as much experience as possible.
“China have depth in the team but we don’t. I expect the girls to give their best and see where they stand against their experienced opponents,” said Choong Hann.
Meanwhile, in another Group A Uber Cup Finals match, Indonesia dropped one point en route to winning 4-1 against Germany.
THOMAS CUP
Group A: Thailand bt Taiwan 3-2
(Kantaphon Wangcharoen lost to Chou Tien-chen 18-21, 20-22; Supak Jomkoh-Tanupat Viriyangkura lost to Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin 15-21, 12-21; Kunlavut Vitidsarn bt Wang Tzu-wei 24-22, 21-17; Kittinupong Kedren-Dechapol Puavaranukroh bt Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan 21-18, 21-17; Suppanyu Avihingsanon bt Chi Yu-jen 11-21, 25-23, 21-12).
UBER CUP
Group A: Indonesia bt Germany 4-1
(Gregoria Mariska bt Yvonne LI 21-10, 21-14; Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu bt Stine Kuspert-Emma Moszczynski 21-16, 21-17; Putri Kusuma bt Ann-Kathrin Spori 21-11, 21-17; Siti Fadia Silva-Ribka Sugiarto bt Annabella Jaeger-Leona Michalski 21-9, 21-8; Ester Nurumi lost to Nguyen Thuc Phuong 18-21, 21-17, 14-21).
Group D: China bt Canada 5-0
(He Bingjiao bt Michelle Li 21-12, rtd; Li Wenmei-Zheng Yu bt Rachel Honderich-Kristen Tsai 21-10, 21-13; Wang Zhiyi bt Rachel Chan 21-19, 21-13; Liu Xuanxuan-Xia Yuting bt Catherine Choi-Talia Ng 21-6, 21-4; Han Yue bt Zhang Wenyu 21-12, 21-7).
TODAY’S FIXTURES (Malaysian time)
THOMAS CUP
Group C: India vs Holland (1am), China vs Tahiti (1am)
Group D: Japan vs Canada (7.30pm)
UBER CUP
Group B: India vs Spain (1.30pm), Thailand vs Scotland (1.30pm)
Group C: Taiwan vs Egypt (1.30pm)
Group D: Malaysia vs China (7.30pm); Denmark vs Canada (1am)