Historic medal secured

Never in their careers would the Singapore men's team have imagined themselves cheering on arch rivals Malaysia in a tournament, but that was exactly what they did yesterday at the Badminton Asia Team Championships.

And a day of drama in Selangor ended in delight for the Singaporeans, who are assured of at least a historic bronze after qualifying for the semi-finals for the first time - courtesy of some help from their Causeway neighbours.

After beating Kazakhstan 5-0 in their final Group B match, the Republic needed the hosts to beat Japan in order to finish second in their group and make the last four.

In a nail-biting few hours, they camped in their hotel rooms with their hearts in their mouths, willing Malaysia to victory.

The Malaysians delivered, but only just, in a 3-2 win that sees them go through as group winners to face South Korea, while Singapore take on defending champions Indonesia at the Setia City Convention Centre today.

All semi-finalists will also earn a spot at May's Thomas Cup in Thailand. It will be Singapore's third outing at the prestigious event, after qualifying in 1986 and 2014.

World champion Loh Kean Yew said: "We were definitely anxious while waiting because we have already done our part and all we could do is leave it to fate.

"Ultimately, it feels amazing to create history, but this is even more meaningful to me because we did it as one Team Singapore."

Already through to the last four after beating Singapore and Kazakhstan 5-0 earlier, Malaysia were surprisingly off-colour against a Japanese side bereft of top players like world No. 2 Kento Momota.

Malaysia's world No. 7 Lee Zii Jia laboured to a 15-21, 21-6, 21-15 win over 343rd-ranked Riku Hatano in the first singles but their world No. 7 doubles pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik suffered a shock 23-21, 21-16 loss to 857th-ranked Ayato Endo and Yuta Takei.

World No. 112 Aidil Sholeh then lost 19-21, 21-16, 21-15 to unranked Koo Takahashi before world No. 17 duo Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin levelled the overall scores with a come-from-behind 17-21, 21-17, 21-17 win over unranked Haruya Nishida and Shuntaro Mezaki.

Singapore's fate then rested in the hands of Malaysia's world No. 126 and former world junior championships silver medallist Leong Jun Hao, who came good with a 21-18, 21-16 win over the unranked Koshiro Moriguchi.

Singapore had an easier time in their encounter with Kazakhstan, as world No. 12 Loh overcame 429th-ranked Artur Niyazov 21-12, 21-17 in 25 minutes in the opening singles.

World No. 104 Jason Teh then eased to a 21-12, 21-8 victory over 696th-ranked Khaitmurat Kulmatov in the second singles before Lim Ming Hong beat the similarly unranked Makhsut Tajibullayev 21-12, 21-14 in the next match.

With the tie settled, world No. 794 Junsuke Kubo and Wesley Koh beat Jangir Ibraev and Ilya Lysenko 21-3, 21-5 before world No. 247 Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Andy Kwek similarly cruised past Andrey Shalagin and Tajibullayev 21-7, 21-5 to complete the sweep.

Singapore Badminton Association technical director Martin Andrew acknowledged that his team are underdogs in the semi-finals.

He said: "Indonesia do not have their strongest players here but are still a very strong team. It's a big challenge for us but if our players perform, we can put some pressure on and give ourselves opportunities to win, which we need to take.

"We are looking for a good start through Kean Yew and see if we can continue to challenge. Our players must believe in themselves and be brave on court, make clear decisions and focus on each point."

S-finals: Singtel TV Ch112 & StarHub Ch201, 10am & 4pm