SIBU: The top four badminton teams for the 21st Malaysia Games (SUKMA XXI) dominated the group stage, as expected, during the matches that began on Saturday at 10 am at the Indoor Stadium here.
The teams, namely Selangor, the winner of the last SUKMA, Penang (2nd place), Federal Territory (3rd place), and Melaka (4th place), all excelled in their group stage matches against Sabah, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, and Perak.
In Group A, Selangor won 5-0, putting up a strong fight with straight-set victories in all five categories against Sabah, leaving the latter unable to mount any comeback.
The same scenario occurred in Group B and Group D, where in Group B, Federal Territory won 5-0 against Negeri Sembilan, and in Group D, Penang won 5-0 against Perak.
Meanwhile, in Group C, Pahang put up a strong fight against Melaka.
However, they had to accept defeat after only winning the men’s singles and men’s doubles categories, leaving Melaka to dominate the women’s singles, mixed doubles, and women’s doubles.
The final score for Group C was 3-2 (Melaka-Pahang).
The group match for the morning session ended at 1.35 pm and the afternoon session will begin at 4 pm with match between Group A (Sarawak vs Sabah), Group B (Kelantan vs Negeri Sembilan), Group C (Perak vs Pahang) and Group D (Johor vs Perlis).
