Despite the absence of Lee Zii Jia and Ng Tze Yong, the Malaysian men’s team made it into the Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) semi-finals after beating Singapore 3-1 in Shah Alam on Friday.

The defending champions were dealt an early setback when their highest ranked men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia could not feature due an existing sinusitis issue and was advised to rest by the specialist he saw.

“Zii Jia suffered from breathing symptoms during his tie against Chinese Taipei on Thursday, and as the condition worsened, he was brought to see a specialist on Friday morning.

“Zii Jia was advised to rest to avoid aggravating the symptoms,” read the Team LZJ statement.

Malaysia’s problems were further compounded when Ng Tze Yong, who stepped in for Lee, was forced to retire after three minutes into his match against Jason Teh.

The Badminton Association of Malaysia later confirmed that Ng was not match fit.

But the host levelled proceedings through world number five pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, who overcame Loh Kean Hean-Howin Wong 21-11, 22-24, 21-14 in 59-minutes.

Leong Jun Hao then gave Malaysia the 2-1 lead in the second singles when he overcame Joel Koh 21-8, 21-12 for the crucial advantage.

Second doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin confirmed the semi-finals passage after they tamed Wesley Koh-Kubo Junsuke 21-6, 20-22, 21-8 after 50-minutes.

They will go on to meet Japan, who came through from the brink of defeat against India thanks to Kento Momota’s heroics against K.Srikanth.

The two-time world champion mounted a mighty eight-point comeback in the deciding match to beat the Indian 17-21, 21-9, 22-20 for the 3-2 aggregate victory.

The other semi-finals will see China face South Korea.

The women’s semis will pit Indonesia against Thailand, while Japan take on India.