SELBATC: Malaysia book quarter-finals berth after Kazakhstan whitewash

The Malaysian men’s team booked their quarter-finals berth at the ongoing Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) after they notched another 5-0 whitewash, this time over minnows Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

Having been rested against Brunei yesterday, Lee Zii Jia made his debut as the first singles and gave the defending champions the ideal start with a 21-11, 21-10 victory over Dimitriy Panarin.

Despite ranked 64 places below Lee on the world rankings, Panarin gave a good account of himself and even attempted the Malaysian’s backhand smash in the second game.

But Lee was comfortable throughout the contest and duly wrapped up victory in 32-minutes.

Leong Jun Hao was fielded as the second singles and he gave Malaysia the second point with a 21-8, 21-11 win over Ibray Bayken, before Eogene Ewe made it 3-0 with a 21-9, 21-9 triumph over Makhsut Tajibullayev.

Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were still absent from the doubles line-up, but it didn't stop the host from making it a clean sweep through both their pairs.

Choong Hon Jian-Haikal Nazri beat their opponents 21-10, 21-9, before Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin gave Khaitmurat Kulmatov-Tajibullayev a total of eight points from two games.

Malaysia will wrap up their group campaign against Chinese Taipei to decide the Group B winners on Thursday.

The women's team will face Thailand in the earlier match at 9am.