SEA Games: Malaysian badminton women's team suffer unexpected loss to Philippines

The female national contingent competing at the SEA Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia crashed out of the badminton team competition after suffering a tame 3-0 defeat to minnows Philippines on Monday.

The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) had decided to send a fairly young contingent for this biennal multisport event, but to suffer a thrashing at the hands of the Philippines came as a new low.

Tan Zhing Yi surrended the first point when she lost to Mikaela Joy 22-24, 18-21 after 48 minutes in the first singles match.

Low Yeen Yuan-Valeree Siow, who had won several lower tier events on the BWF World Tour, were expected to level the scores, but ended up being upstaged 20-22, 21-19, 22-24 against Alyssa Ysabel-Thea Marie in the women's doubles.

Siti Nurshuhaini came in to try and salvage some parity in the second singles, but she confirmed Malaysia's exit after a tame loss against Maria Bianca.

In 2021, the women's team also crashed out in the quarter-finals after a 3-1 loss to Vietnam.

Philippines' victory pits them against either Indonesia or Cambodia, while Thailand take on Singapore in the other semi-finals.

The men's team will open their campaign against Vietnam on Tuesday.