Jonassen said he took full responsibility for the team’s shortcomings. Their overall performance was “simply not good enough” after bowing out to defending champions China in the quarter-finals at Forum Horsens here today.
“Obviously, for the full campaign, I’m very disappointed in our performance because we came in with too many flaws in our game. For that, of course, I take full responsibility. It’s simply not good enough,” he said in a post-match interview.
Rather than isolating the loss to China, the Dane pointed to a week-long struggle, particularly within the men’s singles camp, where the inability to build confidence proved costly.
In a major championship, Jonassen said players are expected to grow stronger with each outing, but Malaysia were unable to establish that consistency at any stage of the campaign.
“I’m not frustrated over the performance today but I think it’s the performance throughout the week that has let us down,” he said.
Meanwhile, the 51-year-old said he wanted to have professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia perform in the decider but to no avail as Malaysia’s campaign ended early in the third match against China.
Zii Jia, ranked world No 82, emerged as Malaysia’s most consistent men’s singles performer in the tournament, registering three wins from three matches, including an upset victory over world No 20 Koki Watanabe, 21-13, 21-19, in the final Group B tie on Wednesday.
In contrast, national No 1 Leong Jun Hao endured a difficult campaign, failing to deliver a point in all his three matches, including a defeat to world No 1 Shi Yu Qi in the opening tie against China, 10-21, 21-16, 9-21.
Second men’s singles Justin Hoh, on the other hand, managed to win only once in four matches, his sole victory coming over Finnish player Kalle Koljonen, 21-14, 21-12 in their second Group B match.
Professional player Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin failed to make an impact as he went down to Cholan Kayan, 16-21, 15-21 during the Group B opener against England.
Jonassen also raised alarm that Malaysia’s current approach in men’s singles is falling behind the demands of the modern game.
“I’m not going to go directly into details about the players, but I do agree in quite a significant way from the singles, the style of play is simply not up to par or up to date on how the game has moved on,” he said.
He said that progress will require both technical and mental shifts, including greater patience and tactical awareness on court while urging players to take ownership of their growth.
Malaysia began their Group B campaign with a narrow 3-2 win over England, followed by a 4-1 victory against Finland before falling 2-3 to 2014 champions Japan.