The win, at the Setia City Convention Centre, came courtesy of heroic performances from third singles shuttler Siti Nurshuhaini Azman and doubles pairs of Valeree Siow-Pearly Tan and Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing.

Singles player S Kisona, ranked 64th in the world, went down 21-12, 21-16 to world No 72 Natsuri Nidaira before Japan raced to a 2-0 lead when world No 181 Riko Gunji crushed 2017 Asian Junior Championship silver medallist Eoon Qi Xuan 21-17, 21-7.

Siti Nurshuhaini, taking to the court knowing she had to turn the tide, then put up a highly-spirited performance to clinch the first point for Malaysia by disposing of Hina Akechi 21-16, 22-20.

Buoyed by Siti Nurshuhaini’s spirited display, Valeree-Pearly made a mockery of their 11th-hour combination, following the last-minute withdrawal of M. Thinaah after testing positive for Covid-19, to level the tie at 2-2 with a hard-fought win over Rui Hirokami-Yuna Kato.

Scratch pair Valeree-Pearly struggled to overcome Rui Yuna 22-20 in the first game but turned on the style to win the second 21-18.

That set the stage for a grand finale and up stepped Anna-Mei Xing to cap an amazing Malaysian turnaround.

Anna-Mei Xing went on the attack from the start to finish to overpower Hina Akechi-Riko Gunji 21-12, 21-5 for the winning point.

The Malaysian girls can now make the semifinals if they beat India tomorrow as the men’s team begin its Group B campaign against Singapore. Both matches start at 4pm.

The top two teams from each group qualify for the semifinals and get an automatic spot at the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Bangkok in May.