The 187th ranked Malaysian pair reached the semi-finals, and are guaranteed a medal, after a 11-8, 2-11, 0-11, 11-8, 11-7 win over the Chinese pair, reported The Star.

They are the first Malaysians to win an individual medal in the Asian championships, which is also the country’s first medal at the tournament after 54 years.

“It’s a major breakthrough for Malaysian table tennis,” said national coach Beh Lee Wei.

“Shidong is ranked third in the world while Gaoyuan is No 8 in the world. In contrast, Javen is ranked 307th while Qi Shen is ranked 365th.

“We didn’t see this coming, but huge credit to them for playing without fear. The key was capitalising on crucial points.”

Javen-Qi Shen displayed remarkable mental toughness against the Chinese, bouncing back from a 0-11 loss in the third game to capture the subsequent two games and secure a stunning victory.

However, they failed to get past Singaporean pair Koen Pang-Izaac Quek in the semi-final, losing 8-11, 3-11, 5-11.

Javen-Qi Shen had beaten world No 16 pair Jang Woo-jin-Cho Dae-seong of South Korea 3-1 (11-9, 10-12, 13-11, 11-6) in the last-16 stage to set up a clash against the Chinese pair.

Malaysia had only reached the semi-finals in the women’s team event back in 1968 and the men’s team event in 1970, both times settling for bronze.