Daren Liew wins as Malaysian Tigers lose to Indonesian Rajawali in Axiata Cup 2012 – Badminton
Malaysia’s Men’s Singles player Daren Liew, who is representing Malaysian Tigers at Axiata Cup 2012, showed an elevated performance and won his fight against Indonesian Rajawali’s Sheshar Hiren Rhustavito.
However, his victory produced no good for the team as Malaysian Tigers lost to Indonesian Rajawali with a margin of 1-2 on Sunday, March 25, in Kuala Lumpur.
The World Number Eight pair of Koo Kien Keat – Tan Boon Heong and World Number 32 Muhammad Hafiz Hashim lost their matches to Indonesians putting Malaysian Tigers on the back foot with a 0-2 margin.
However, Daren maintained his elevated performance by winning his match and won the only point for Tigers making the final result 1-2.
While talking about the unexpected defeat of Malaysians Tigers, Malaysia’s national coach Rashid Sidek said that it was a disappointing performance as on paper the Malaysians were stronger.
He said, “It is disappointing because on paper we are supposed to be stronger than the Indonesian side,” said national singles coach Rashid Sidek.
He also added, “We were confident of taking a point through Daren and we just needed a victory from one of the other two matches. But it’s not the end of the world and we’re still confident of making the final.”
The World Number 28 Daren, who has been playing tremendous badminton for the last one month, continued his positive and aggressive play in his fight against Sheshar and won it in straight sets.
In the first set, both men showed a wonderful performance by playing to their maximum potential and remained close on the board.
Until the end of first half, no one could manage a comfortable lead as both shuttlers displayed positive play.
However, after the break, Daren became aggressive and started to dominate the pace of rallies. He was focused in the game and won the set with a tight margin of 21-19.
In the second set, Daren was everywhere in the court as he played with precision and also pushed his challenger in all corners of the court. He remained successful in taking a wonderful lead until the break.
After the break, Daren continued his elevated performance and won the second set with an impressive score of 21-13.
The higher ranked Malaysian won this fight in straight games with a 21-19 and 21-13 score on the board.
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