Indian men’s singles ace HS Prannoy, the world No 9, gave India a flying start as he clawed back from a game down to see off national men’s singles professional Lee Zii Jia, 18-21, 21-13, 25-23 in the opening tie.

Buoyed by a convincing start from Prannoy, 2019 women’s singles world champion, Pusarla V Sindhu, had no problem extending the lead by contributing the second point for India after a straight sets win over young national shuttler, Wong Ling Ching, 21-13, 21-17.

Reigning men’s doubles world champions, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik then managed to reduce the deficit for Malaysia by downing scratch duo, Dhruv Kapila-Chirah Shetty, 21-16, 21-10.

However, in the fourth match, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand Pullela, ranked 19th in the world, turned unlikely heroes for India as they stunned Malaysia’s top and world number five women’s doubles pair, Pearly Tan-M Thinaah, 23-21, 21-15, to ensure they head into the next stage as group champions.

India’s world No 26 ranked mixed doubles pair, Ishaan Bhatnagar-Tanisha Crasto completed the rout for India despite having to brush aside a strong challenge from the country’s rising duo and world number 48, Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei, 21-19, 19-21, 21-16, in the last match.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan took the third spot in Group B after beating UAE, 3-2, in the other match.

Only the top two teams from the four groups will advance to the quarterfinals while the four best teams will win automatic spots in the Sudirman Cup.