KUALA LUMPUR: National singles coaching director Kenneth Jonassen is trying to instill his country’s vaunted Viking spirit into the deflated Malaysian team after the heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to Japan in a Sudirman Cup group match on Thursday in Xiamen, China.
The Dane has urged the Malaysian team to pick themselves up and battle on in the quarter-finals though the path ahead will be much harder from now.
Japan, showing fierce Samurai spirit, battled back from 2-0 down to defeat Malaysia 3-2 to top Group C.
Amid the debate on whether world No. 2 Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani should be fielded against Japan instead of world No. 4 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Jonassen felt that it is not the end of the world as there is still the quarter-finals to fight.
“Overall, we can be proud of our team effort, aggression and spirit on court and also about our supporters. I feel we were a little unlucky today but Japan also showed what they were really made of,” said Jonassen.
“We fought all the way and with this spirit and aggression, we stand a chance against anybody if we believe in ourselves.
“We have to recover from this as the level tomorrow will be even higher but we have to perform.”
The battling display of men’s singles Leong Jun Hao, the world No. 26 who toppled Japan’s world No. 8 Kodai Naraoka, should also boost team spirit ahead of the tough quarter-finals.
The quarter-finals draw will be conducted on Thursday night, and Malaysia will likely face one of the three group winners China (Group A), South Korea (Group B) or Indonesia (Group C) tomorrow.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd