Aaron-Wooi Yik, currently No 5 in world rankings, defeated the world No 6 Chinese pair 17-21, 21-18, 21-15 in a match that lasted 62 minutes.

Both the pairs have won twice each in their four encounters so far.

After losing the first game tamely in 17 minutes, the Malaysians fought back strongly to win the second game in 21 minutes to force a decider.

It was point-for-point in the rubber game which went in favour of the Malaysians despite the vociferous home ground support.

The Malaysian pair now need to win only one of the two remaining matches against the two Indonesian pairs in their group to book a berth in the semi-finals.

They take on world No 4 Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto tomorrow and face eleventh-ranked Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Moh Reza Pahlevi on Friday.

Earlier, national singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia kicked off his campaign on a positive note by defeating arch rival Chou Tien Chen.

The world No 8 took 55 minutes to beat Chou 21-13, 21-15, making it the sixth time he has defeated the world No 9 in their 11 meetings so far.

This win puts the Olympics bronze medallist in a strong position to qualify for the semi-final from Group A as he just needs to win at least one of the next two group matches.

Tomorrow’s second group tie will see Zii Jia take on world No 2 Anders Anderson from Denmark.

This match will be a huge hurdle for the Malaysian as the Dane has been playing well in the last few tournaments.

Zii Jia will be up against China’s world No 6 Li Shi Feng, who has also been showing tremendous improvement this year, in the final group match on Friday.

Fans are hoping for at least one title from Hangzhou as no Malaysian player or pair have ever won since the tournament’s inception in 2018.