02/05/2026

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SATURDAY | MAY 2, 2026

Malaysian Paper

Future looks bright

What’s next for LIV golfers?

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National women’s doubles pair Ong Xin Yee (left) and Carmen Ting in action against China world no. 1 pair in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Uber Cup Finals at Forum Horsens on Thursday. – BERNAMAPIC

Inside F1 private debate

National women’s badminton team impress with youthful squad at Uber Cup, Rexy hails fighting spirit despite heavy defeat T HE national women’s badminton squad has shown great potential for stronger performances in future editions following a positive campaign at the 2026 Uber Cup held at Forum Horsens. Despite the back-to-back losses, the world No. 33 described the experience as unforgettable, having gone toe-to-toe with the world’s top shuttlers during the prestigious badminton team event in Forum Horsens. giving them an easy path to win against us,” she said. China secured their spot in the semifinals in the third match when their second singles player, Chen Yu Fei (world No. 4), defeated Wong Ling Ching 21-10, 21-10 in 36 minutes.

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“These two games I gained lots of learning … the experience that I got is very good and I won’t forget this experience because this is my first time fighting very close to top players. “I think this is a starting point for me to grow up in the future,” she said in the post match interview on Monday. The 22-year-old also pointed out to the fine margins at the highest level, particularly the need for greater consistency moving forward. “I think I need to be a bit more consistent when I play with top players and also try to reduce more unforced errors… top players, I see the make very few unforced errors really,” she said. The hope to level the tie almost materialised through debutants Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting, who displayed a courageous performance against the world’s No. 1 pair, Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning, before going down 14-21, 21-16, 13-21 in a 79-minute battle. Xin Yee, 19, said they had given their all, but inconsistency denied them a chance to upset the reigning world champions. “We are not satisfied that we could not contribute a single point for Malaysia. We tried our best by applying pressure and not

National Coaching Director Rexy Mainaky expressed his admiration for the team’s fighting spirit. With a squad composed of 50% young players, Malaysia managed to qualify for the quarterfinals of the prestigious tournament for the first time in 16 years, putting up a brave challenge despite falling 0-3 to defending champions China on Thursday. “The majority of the squad are young players; they were able to play with a ‘nothing to lose’ attitude and showed a positive performance against China (in the quarterfinals yesterday),” he said in a video shared by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) yesterday. “K. Letshanaa, as the first singles, faced the All England champion Wang Zhi Yi, and our debut pair Ong Xin Yee and Carmen Ting managed to compete against the world No. 1 pair, Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning. They were very positive,” he added. On Thursday, Malaysia began the quarterfinals on a difficult note when national women’s singles player K. Letshanaa (world No. 33) put up a fierce fight before narrowly losing 17-21, 18-21 to world No. 2 Wang Zhi Yi in a match lasting 47 minutes.

Meanwhile, Rexy stated that it is still too early to suggest that Xin Yee-Carmen, or the other young pair of Low Zi Yu Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan, can reach the level of the nation’s top pair and world No. 2, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah. “It is too early to say they can reach the level of Pearly-Thinaah because what they still need to do in the coming years is take care of their mental and psychological strength,” he said. Zi Yu-Noraqilah (world No. 143) had previously turned heads when they shocked the world’s seventh-ranked Japanese pair, Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi, 21-17, 12-21, 21-19, during the final Group B match on Monday. This marks Malaysia’s fourth quarterfinal appearance in the tournament, matching their best achievement from the 2004, 2008, and 2010 editions. The national squad began their Group B campaign with a 3-2 victory over Turkiye before defeating South Africa 5-0 to confirm their place in the quarterfinals. They finished the group stage as runners up of Group B after losing 1-4 to six-time champions, Japan. – Bernama

Emery left fuming

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