SHAH ALAM: A expected, defending champions Malaysia got their Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) campaign off to a winning start.
Even without former All England champion Lee Zii Jia and 2022 world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, the men's team still thrashed minnows Brunei 5-0 in their opening Group B tie at the Setia City Convention Centre (SCCC) here on Tuesday.
World No. 15 Ng Tze Yong, drew first blood with a 21-17, 21-11 win over Kan Kah Kit, before Leong Jun Hao doubled the score with an easy 21-5, 21-6 win over Marhanif Ali.
Eogene Ewe gave Malaysia an unassailable 3-0 lead with a 21-8, 21-4 win over Mattew Minggat.
Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coaching director Rexy Mainaky chose to be modest with his comments.
"It was expected, so we move on to the next tie.
"I don't want to comment much because we played against a team that is still developing, and some of their players have no prior international exposure.
"What's important is we wanted to see how some of our players like Tze Yong fared since he is not fully recovered.
"Although our players did not go all out, the win was expected. We will try again against Kazakhstan," said Rexy.
Choong Hon Jian-Haikal Nazri made it 4-0 for Malaysia when they saw off Marhanif-Haziq Roze 21-5, 21-12 before Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani completed the drubbing with a 21-9, 21-7 win over Mattew-Iqbal Asyraf Mohamad.
In another Group B tie, Taiwan, who are expected to be Malaysia's acid test, thumped Kazakhstan 5-0.
Only the top two teams from the group will advance to the quarter-finals, with the semi-finalists earning qualification for the Thomas Cup Finals in April.
Malaysia play Kazakhstan on Wednesday, while Taiwan will face Brunei.