03/05/2026

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Malaysia’s men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia (right) and Soh Wooi Yik react after losing to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang (not pictured) in the 2026 Thomas Cup quarterfinal on Friday. – BERNAMAPIC

Singles coaching boss Jonassen takes full responsibility for Thomas Cup failure Not good enough!

MALAYSIA’S disappointing exit from the Thomas Cup Finals 2026 has prompted a blunt admission from national singles coaching director Kenneth Jonassen. Jonassen said he takes full responsibility for the team’s shortcomings, describing their overall performance as “simply not good enough”, after bowing out in the quarterfinals against defending champions China, 3-0, in Forum Horsens, Denmark, on Friday night. “Obviously, for the full cam paign, I’m very disappointed that our lack of performance because we came in with too many flaws in our game. For that, of course, I take full responsibility. It’s simply not good enough. So, that is the frustration part right now,” he said in a post-match interview. Rather than isolating the loss to China, the Dane pointed to a week-long struggle, particularly within the men’s singles camp, where the inability to build confi dence proved costly. In a major championship, Jonassen said players are expected to grow stronger with each outing, but Malaysia were unable to establish that consis tency at any stage of the cam paign. I’m not frustrated over the

against England. Jonassen also raised alarm that Malaysia’s cur rent approach in men’s singles is falling behind the demands of the modern game. “I’m not going to go directly into details about the players as such, but I do agree in a quite significant way from singles, the style of play that is simply not up to par or up to date on how the game has moved on,” he said. He said that progress will require both technical and mental shifts, including greater patience and tactical awareness on court while urging players to take owner ship of their growth. Hoh then apologised to all Malaysians after Friday’s defeat but said his teammates had

played four times here, only man aged to win once throughout the tournament against Finnish player Kalle Koljonen 21-14, 21-12 in their second Group B match. Professional player Aidil Sholeh Ali

performance today but I think it’s the performance throughout the week that has let us down,” he said. In the meantime, the 51-year old said he would love to have professional men’s singles shut tler Lee Zii Jia perform in the decider but to no avail as Malaysia’s campaign ended early in the third game against China. World No. 82 and professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia emerged as Malaysia’s most con sistent men’s singles performer in the tournament, registering three wins from three matches, includ ing an upset victory over world No. 20 Koki Watanabe, 21-13, 21 19, in the final Group B tie on Wednesday. In contrast, national No. 1 Leong Jun Hao endured a dif ficult campaign, failing to

everything. No matter the result, we tried our best because we know China is a strong team, and I hope Malaysians understand. We will fight again in the next edition,” he told Bernama . The world No. 44 ranked player said this after losing 14-21, 13-21 to world No. 7 Li Shi Feng, which saw China advance to the semifinals. 22-year-old Justin acknowl edged that there is still a notice able gap between him and other top world players following his experience at the 2026 Thomas Cup. “I gained a lot of experience playing against top players. However, I will continue to learn, train, and come back stronger,” he said. Meanwhile, Soh Wooi Yik admitted that they made several simple mistakes at crucial moments against Liang Wei Keng Wang Chang, noting that their opponents were also more domi nant in the second set of the quar terfinal. Malaysia began their Group B campaign with a narrow 3-2 win over England, followed by a 4-1 victory against Finland before fal ling 3-2 to 2014 champions Japan. – Bernama

Sadikin failed to make an impact as he went down to C h o l a n Kayan, 16 21, 15-21 during the Group B opener

deliver a point in all three matches he featured in, includ ing a defeat to world No. 1 Shi Yu Qi in the opening

done their best to ensure Malaysia did not return empty handed from the prestigious world team tournament. “I apologise to

tie against China, 10-21, 21-16, 9-21. Second men’s singles Justin Hoh, on the other hand, who

all Malaysians for not being able to bring a medal home. As a team, we gave

National singles coaching director Kenneth Jonassen. – BERNAMAPIC

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