PETALING JAYA: National coaching director Wong Choong Hann was all smiles although the women’s team crashed out 0-3 to Japan in the semi-finals of the Asia Team Championships.

Two days ago, the girls had fought valiantly to snatch two points in their 2-3 loss to Japan in the group stage but yesterday, they had no answers as they lost all matches in straight games at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila, the Philippines.

Soniia Cheah went down fighting 17-21,18-21 to Akane Yamaguchi, days after stunning the world No. 3 in the group stage.

S. Kisona played as the second singles, instead of Goh Jin Wei, who was rested, but the 2019 SEA Games champion failed to turn the tide for Malaysia after losing 13-21,13-21 to the world No. 11 Sayaka Takahashi.

Malaysia had fielded scratch pair Lee Meng Yean-Yap Cheng Wen as the first doubles instead of Pearly Tan Koong Le-M. Thinaah, who had given the higher ranked Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida a fright before losing in three games in the group stage – but the outcome was the same.

Meng Yean-Cheng Wen were blown away 11-21,4-21 by world No. 3 Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota.

Malaysia had already cemented their spot in the Uber Cup Finals from May 16-24 in Aarhus, Denmark, after finishing as one of the top four teams in the Asia meet by reaching the semi-finals.

Choong Hann gave thumbs up on their singles players’ performances but admitted they were still lagging behind.

“Overall, the women’s team put in good effort to reach the semi-finals. We knew it will be tough against Japan, so we gave all our players a chance to play, thus the changes in the line-up, ” said Choong Hann.

“Our singles players had upset top players (in group stage) and managed to match their opponents on most rallies. I’m pleased.

“But there are still much room for improvements. There are areas where we have to work on to close the gap further.”

Meanwhile, Japan take on South Korea in today’s final.

The Koreans booked their berth in the title decider after overcoming a spirited Thailand 3-1 in the other semi-final match.