India claimed a hard fought win over Malaysia to reach the men's semi-finals ©BWF

India held off a fightback from Malaysia to reach the men’s semi-finals of the Badminton Asia Team Championships in front of a home crowd in Hyderabad.

After topping their group ahead of China, the host country  began as the favourites and quickly asserted their authority with Syed Modi International Badminton Championship winner Kidambi Srikanth earning a 21-14, 21-15 win over Zulfadli Zulkiffli.

A tightly fought 21-10, 20-22, 21-16 success for Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy in the first doubles match over Juan Shen Low and Kian Meng Tan put the Indian team on the brink of a semi-final place.

A 17-21, 21-12, 21-16 singles loss for Ajay Jayaram against Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin, however, and doubles defeat for their second pairing of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewakar brought the Malaysians level.

Prannoy Kumar held his nerve for India as he defeated Malaysia’s Teck Zhi Soo 21-12, 22-20 in the final singles match to give his team a 3-2 win.

India will now meet Indonesia for a place in the final after they secured a straightforward 3-0 win over Hong Kong.

A 3-0 victory over Chinese Taipei saw Japan set up a tie against the top-seeded South Korean team, who whitewashed China.

China, though, will have the chance to gain revenge in the women’s competition as their team saw off Indonesia 3-0 to advance to the semi-finals.

There, they will meet a South Korean squad, fresh from beating India by the same score.

The second last four tie will see Japan take on Thailand, who earned 3-1 and 3-0 victories over Chinese Taipei and Malaysia respectively.

Denmark remain on course for double gold at the European Championships
Denmark remain on course for double gold at the European Championships ©Getty Images

Double gold medal success remains firmly on the cards for Denmark at the European Team Championships in Kazan, as both their men’s and women’s squads reached the semi-finals.

Their men’s team, led by Jan Ø. Jørgensen and Viktor Axelsen, secured a 3-1 victory over the host country to set-up a clash against Germany.

Second seeds England remain in contention after they beat Poland 3-0,.

They are now set to meet France.

The women’s semi-final line-up will see favourites Denmark face Germany and second seeds Spain meet unseeded Bulgaria. 

In the African Team Championship, Mauritius have secured a minimum of two silver medals after their teams reached the gold medal matches.

Their men’s team emerged as 3-0 victors over Algeria in their semi-final to set up an encounter with South Africa/

Their women's team will face Egypt after beating Uganda 3-0.

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