Reaching Billie Jean King Cup final 'not impossible' says coach

New Straits Times

15-06-2025

KUALA LUMPUR: Muliyadi Jamal is hoping his charges can pull off a surprise run to the final at the Billie Jean King Cup (BJKC) Asia-Oceania Group II competition which starts at the National Tennis Centre here tomorrow (June 16).
The national team head coach has named Joleen Saw, Elsa Wan Abdul Rahman, Hannah Yip, Iman Syuhada Abdullah and Lim Zan Ning in the BJKC squad, captained by Koay Hao Sheng.
Malaysia, seeded fourth in the competition, has received a relatively favourable draw having been placed together with top-seeds Mongolia, Singapore, Kyrgyzstan and Northern Mariana Island in Group A.
Group B features second seeds Indonesia, Pacific Oceania, Uzbekistan, Iran and the Philippines.
The top-two teams (finalists) will earn promotion to Group I next year.
Muliyadi is expecting his players to at least equal their top-three finish from last year - Malaysia's best ever performance in the history of the competition - but is quietly confident of exceeding that.
"Our first mission is to reach the semi-finals which is an achievable goal," said Muliyadi when met at the pre-tournament presser here today (June 15).
"But of course, we are hoping to go further than that. Playing on home ground, it is possible we can spring a few surprises.
"We beat Uzbekistan here last year and nobody expected that so it is not impossible we could reach the final.
"In our group (A), Mongolia will obviously be the toughest team but besides that I believe it is a pretty open competition.
"Group B is actually much tougher, Pacific Oceania have just come down from Group I while Uzbekistan and Indonesia have always been strong.
"I, however, believe the Philippines will be dangerous, even though they have not brought Alex Eala with them."
Muliyadi is expecting to field Joleen and Elsa in the first and second singles slots.
"Elsa will likely play in the doubles as well with Hannah but that will depend on the condition of the players on the day," added Muliyadi.
"We can make changes to the line-up on the day itself."
Malaysia will open its campaign against Kyrgyzstan tomorrow. Malaysia defeated Kyrgyzstan 2-1 in the group stage last year.
Kyrgyzstan playing captain Vladislava Andreevskaya is expecting a challenging encounter.
"Our (usual) captain is not with us so I will be the playing captain which is a huge responsibility for me. Hopefully things will go our way this year," said Vladislava.
"We will be playing the home country Malaysia tomorrow which will be difficult. We played you guys here last year and it was tough."
Order of play (all ties start 10am)