KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's hopes of defending their men's Asian Team Squash Championships title took a heavy knock after they suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Hong Kong in Pool B today.
Second seeds Malaysia, who are without the injured national No 2 Ivan Yuen, had hoped to secure the win to ensure of their position as group winners.
But third seeds Hong Kong had other ideas as Wong Chi Him and Lau Tsz Kwan came up with big wins to deliver a stunning blow to Malaysia in Cheongju, South Korea.
In a 3-2-1 order of play, world No 103 Chi Him drew first blood as he came from a game down to beat Syafiq Kamal 6-11, 12-10, 11-8, 13-11.
Malaysia had banked on world No 78 Addeen Idrakie to step up in Ivan's absence.
But it was world No 60 Tsz Kwan denied a Malaysian comeback as he put Addeen to the sword with a 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 12-10 win.
In the dead rubber, national No 1 Ng Eain Yow defeated Henry Leung 11-4, 5-11, 11-2, 11-5, but it was too little too late.
The defeat is certainly a blow to Malaysia's aspirations of reaching the final.
They have one more match in Pool B, against Singapore tomorrow, but they are only going to finish as group runners-up.
It means that they are expected to take on top seeds India in the semi-finals.
"Hong Kong played well today, but it was really fine margins on the day," said national assistant head coach Andrew Cross.
"Both Syafiq and Addeen won their opening games, and it was close in the next three games.
"It does make our task in the semi-finals a lot tougher as we are now likely to face India"