Singapore beat Japan 3-2 at the Badminton Asia Team Championships to keep semi-final hopes alive

SINGAPORE: Singapore's men's badminton team beat Japan 3-2 in Group B of the Badminton Asia Team Championships on Thursday (Feb 17) to keep its semi-final hopes alive. 

The victory in Shah Alam came on the back of a 5-0 thrashing by hosts Malaysia a day earlier. 

Singapore got off to a good start, when world champion Loh Kean Yew beat Japan's Riku Hatano 21-16, 21-15 in 37 minutes for an early lead. 

But Japan tied the score, with the doubles pair of Ayato Endo and Yuta Takei defeating Wesley Koh and Andy Kwek 21-12, 19-21, 21-15.

In the second singles match, Jason Teh overcame Takahashi Koo 21-15, 13-21, 21-18 to regain the lead for Singapore.

Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Terry Hee then clinched overall victory for Singapore, with a 21-18, 18-21, 21-19 win over Shuntaro Mezaki and Haruya Nishida in 46 minutes.

In the third singles fixture, Joel Koh went down 21-10, 21-17 to Koshiro Moriguchi.

Following the results, Singapore moved to second spot in the four-team group, and will play winless Kazakhstan on Friday. The top two teams in the group will enter the last four.