From Amiril Muttaqien Meketar
HORSENS (Denmark), April 27 (Bernama) -- National young pair Low Zi Yu-Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan had no pressure going into the match against world No. 7 duo Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi in the final Group B match of the Uber Cup Finals 2026 between Malaysia and Japan here, today.
Zi Yu-Noraqilah, ranked world No. 143, caused a huge upset over Iwanaga-Nakanishi, 21-17, 12-21, 21-19, to deliver Malaysia’s only point in their 1-4 defeat to six-time champions Japan at the Forum Horsens, here.
Noraqilah said they did not think anything before the match and just give their all against the opponents.
"This is a good experience against those who are top 10 pairs in the world. Before entering the ring, I just told my partner not to stress and just play what we can give," she said in the post-match interview.
The 18-year-old Noraqilah said they had learnt a lot from the opponents especially on producing quality shots on the court.
Despite the win, Zi Yu said they still need to improve as she committed quite a number of unforced errors throughout the game.
In the meantime, national top women’s singles K. Letshanaa described the 19-21, 17-21 defeat to world No. 3 and three-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi in the opening match as a valuable milestone in her development on the international stage.
"For me, it’s one of my better performance because I felt that I could fight against Akane. Hopefully it gives me a good boost for upcoming matches,” she said.
World No. 6 pair Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto strengthened Japan’s position as they outplayed team captain M. Thinaah with her scratch pair partner, Ong Xin Yee, 21-9, 21-9.
Japan continued their momentum when second singles and world No. 9 Tomoka Miyazaki got the better of world No. 38, Wong Ling Ching 21-16, 21-13 while professional player Goh Jin Wei retired while trailing in the second set of the final match 3-4 against Riko Gunji despite winning the first set 21-19.
Today’s loss sees Malaysia head to the quarter-finals as Group B runners-up while Japan as group champion.
The Uber Cup Finals 2026, which began April 24, will run until May 3.
-- BERNAMA
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