KOTA KINABALU, Nov 2 — Malaysia will meet Japan in the semi-final of the third round of the ISTAF SuperSeries Malaysia 2013/2014 tomorrow.
Malaysia advanced to the semi-final after beating Singapore 2-1 in the quarter-finals of the championship at the Likas Sports Complex here today.
Japan followed in Malaysia’s footsteps after beating India 2-1. Japan won 12-15, 15-12 and 16-14 in the quarter-final.
In the quarter-final against Singapore, Malaysia’s trio of Fazil Mohd Asri, Kamal Alfiza Shafie and Syazreen Qamar Salehan easily beat the Southern Lions 15-7 in the first set.
In the second set, Malaysia started out quite well by maintaining the rhythm from the first set to take an 8-2 lead but Singapore rose to the occasion and piled up the points until both sides were tied at 14-14.
Mistakes after mistakes committed by killer Kamal Alfiza Shafie, which enabled Singapore to level at 14-14 forced Malaysia to replace him with Hanafiah Dolah.
However, Hanafiah’s entry failed to check the advance of the Southern Lions who eventually beat Malaysia 16-14, force the rubber set.
Excellent ball control and compatibility of the Malaysians at the start of the third set was obvious and did not leave any room for the opponents to collect points, leaving Singapore trailing 0-12.
Only after, Malaysia had collected its 13th point, did Singapore succeed in collecting their first point but they could not stop Malaysia who was supported by 7,000 spectators at the Likas Sport Complex.
Finally the Malaysian squad ended the match with a 15-2 win over Singapore with Farhan Aman acting as the tekong and ably assisted by Afif Shafie and Nurirwan Mazlan, in 52 minutes. — Bernama
