It's over for Malaysia as they lost 1-3 to mighty China in the semi-final tie of the Thomas Cup Finals on Saturday (May 4) night. Malaysia will have to settle for bronze while China will take on 14-time winners Indonesia in the final on May 5.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Malaysia lost to China 1-3 in the semi-finals of the Thomas Cup in Chengdu on Saturday night.
00:07They settled for the bronze medal after a fine run in the badminton tournament.
00:12Li Zijia failed to deliver the all-important point for Malaysia in the first singles.
00:17He had hoped to give China's Shi Yuqi a run for his money,
00:21but he ran out of steam and lost 19-21, 5-21 to the world No. 2.
00:27It was neck and neck in the first game before the Chinese snatched the last two points at 19-19 to seal the win.
00:34This gave him the confidence to race to a 11-1 lead
00:37and he never looked back to extend his head-to-head record to five wins in six meetings.
00:43Aaron Chia and So Wu-yik then levelled the tie for Malaysia in the first doubles.
00:48They came from a game down to beat world No. 1 Liang Weikang and Wang Chang 15-21, 21-12, 21-17.
00:57In the second singles, China's world No. 6 Li Shifeng overcame a shaky start to beat world No. 37 Leong Junhao 21-17, 21-10.
01:09In the second doubles, He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu ended Malaysia's run with a 18-21, 19-21, 21-12 win over Gosei Fei and Nur Izuddin.
01:20The third singles match between Justin Ho and Lu Guangzhu was not contested as China had already settled the tie.
01:26Despite the defeat, Malaysia have earned praises for beating the higher-ranked Japanese team in the quarterfinals
01:33and reaching the semifinals again in eight years.
01:36China, who won the Thomas Cup 10 times, will face 14-time champion Indonesia in the final on Sunday.
01:44Indonesia beat Taiwan 3-0 in the other semifinal tie.