KUALA LUMPUR: An inspired Malaysian team fought back to edge India 3-2 to reach the mixed team semi-finals of the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta on Monday.
The Malaysia team will face China, who defeated Taiwan 3-0, in the semi-finals at 4.30pm.
India took the lead when mixed pair Sanskar Saraswat-Shravani Walekar defeated Malaysia's Kang Khai Xing-Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan 21-16, 13-21, 21-17 in 51 minutes.
World No. 47 girls' singles shuttler Tanvi Sharma extended India's lead with a 15-21, 21-15, 22-20 victory over Siti Zulaikha Azmi to make it 2-0.
Undeterred, Malaysia fought back with Faiq Masawi, the world No. 7 boys' singles shuttler, bouncing back from a first-game blemish to beat Pranay Shettigar 15-21, 21-18, 21-19 in 66 minutes.
Girls' doubles pair Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting then levelled for Malaysia after dispatching Navya Kanderi-Walekar 21-16, 21-15.
It was then up to world No. 1 boys' doubles pair Khai Xing-Aaron Tai to bring home the winning point, and they did just that.
The Malaysians were in devastating form as they defeated India's Bhargav Ram Arigela-Arsh Mohammad 21-18, 21-10.
In the semi-finals, the Chinese team will be inspired to beat Malaysia following the tragic death of their top boys' singles shuttler, Zhang Zhijie, 17.
Zhijie collapsed on the court during a mixed team match against Japan and died on Sunday.
