KUALA LUMPUR – South Korea’s Shin Heen-seop is confident of defeating Malaysia if the teams meet in the quarter-final of the doubles premier event at the Sepak Takraw World Cup.
Malaysia will play Brunei at 9.30pm tonight, and a victory will send them to face the Koreans in the quarters.
Kim Taek-yeong’s men opened their campaign with a defeat against Thailand yesterday and are eager to take revenge against their northern neighbours in the final.
However, they first had to defeat Singapore today – which they did without issues, winning in straight sets 15-12, 15-10 in 45 minutes.
Heen-seop expressed full confidence that they can defeat tournament hosts Malaysia after displaying their best performance in Group D and learning from their defeat to the Thais.
“I believe Malaysia will win against Brunei tonight and we will meet in the quarter-finals.
“Even though we lost to Thailand in our first game, we bounced back against Singapore today and the momentum is on our side.
“We are confident of defeating Malaysia. We are playing well as a team and have a good fighting spirit. They are hosts and have a lot of pressure on their shoulders.
“After we beat them in the quarters, we believe that we will play Myanmar in the semis and will face Thailand in the final – where we want to avenge our defeat in the first game,” said Heen-soep.
Based on current performance, Malaysia’s pairing of Aidil Aiman Zawawi and Noraizat Nordin is expected to have no problem getting past Brunei and emerging as champions of Group A after winning the first match against Japan yesterday.
The quarter-final match between the Group A champions and the Group D runners-up is scheduled to take place at about 10.30am tomorrow. – May 20, 2024