KUALA LUMPUR: A near full strength Malaysian squad barely broke a sweat when they routed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 5-0 in their opening Group B tie at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships (BAMTC) today.
Team captain Lee Zii Jia opened the flood gates when he downed a spirited Bharath Latheesh 21-12, 21-15, before two-time world junior champion Goh Jin Wei thrashed S. Madhumitha 21-0, 21-7.
Independent men's doubles and world No 8 Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi gave Malaysia an unassailable 3-0 lead when they defeated Dev Ayyappan-Dhiren Ayyappan 21-11, 21-13.
Women's doubles world No 5 Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah saw off Sanika Dhawan Gurav-Taabia Khan 21-9, 21-8, before world No 6 mixed doubles Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing completed the whitewash with a 21-10, 21-9 win over Dev Vishnu-Aleena Qathun.
In the other Group B match, India demolished Kazakhstan 5-0. Malaysia will play India on Thursday in what will likely be a top of the table clash.
Only the top two teams from each group will reach the knockout stage on Friday.
Since the inception of the BAMTC in 2017, which is also the qualifier for the Sudirman Cup in May, Malaysia have never gone beyond the quarter-finals.