KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia against China in table tennis; the outcome was a foregone conclusion.
And so the national women's team went down 3-0 to defending champions China in the world team championship in Chengdu today and failed to reach the last 16.
World No 58 Malaysia finished third in their group with two wins and two defeats.
Against defending champions China, Karen Lyne Dick lost 8-11, 7-11, 6-11 to world No 1 Sun Yingsha. Next, Tee Ai Xin fell 5-11, 3-11, 8-11 to world champion Wang Manyu. Alice Chang was outclassed 6-11, 5-11, 3-11 by Wang Yidi.
Earlier, Malaysia lost 3-2 to Costa Rica in their opening match but rallied to stun world No 9 the United States 3-2 and world No 38 Canada 3-1.
National coach Beh Lee Wei said: "Our players deserve credit as we were the lowest ranked team in the tournament but they rose to the occasion and upset two higher ranked teams.
"Our players showed tremendous fighting spirit in the tournament, and this augurs well for them."