KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia booked a ticket to the quarter-finals after taming Hong Kong 3-2 in the Group D matches of the Thomas Cup Asian Zone qualifying tournament in Macau, this morning.
Seeded fifth, Malaysia will face second seed South Korea tomorrow while unseeded Hong Kong, who received their second defeat today after losing 0-5 to South Korea in the opening group match yesterday, will have to play in a round-robin play-off.
World number one, Datuk Lee Chong Wei opened account for Malaysia when he easily defeated Wong Wing Ki 21-18, 22-20 in 42 minutes while world number six pair, Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong tamed Hong Kong’s duo of Lo Lok Kei/Leung Chun Yiu 21-9, 21-14 in just 21 minutes.
The 2003 All England champion, Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, however, failed to continue his team winning momentum, losing 20-22, 18-21 to Hu Yun in 42 minutes.
The country’s second pair of Lim Khim Wah/Goh V Shem gave Malaysia the winning point, beating Wong Wai Hong/Lee Chun Hei 21-14, 21-16 in 27 minutes.
Malaysia’s third singles, Liew Darren was forced to play in a rubber-match before bowing out 21-17, 16-21, 19-21 to Chan Yan Kit in 62 minutes.
Only four tickets are slotted for the Asian Zone qualifying round which has four groups.
The top two teams in each group will advance to the quarter-finals.
The four losing quarter-finalists will play in a round-robin play-off to determine the last qualifier.
Malaysia has failed to qualify for the Thomas Cup final only twice, in 1973 and 1979.
The Thomas & Uber Cup finals will be held in Wuhan, China from May 20-27.