Defending champions China edged a thrilling tie against Malaysia 3-2 at the Dubai Exhibition Centre.

Lee Zii Jia put fourth seeds Malaysia in front with a 21-16, 22-20 victory over Lei Lanxi, but Gao Fangjie came from behind to level the scores by beating Goh Jin Wei 15-21, 21-13, 21-19.

He Jiting and Zhou Haodong put China in front by seeing off Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 24-22, 21-18, but Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan levelled with a 21-17, 12-21, 21-19 victory against Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning.

China's Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping clinched the deciding match in straight games, defeating Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing 21-15, 25-23.

They are set to face India in the semi-finals after they came from 2-0 behind to beat Hong Kong.

Tang Chun Man and Yeung Shing Choi led by taking the first game 22-20 for Hong Kong in the third match which could have clinched them the tie, but Dhruv Kapila and Chirag Shetty hit back to take the following two 21-16, 21-11.

Two-time Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu levelled by beating Saloni Samirbhai Mehta 16, 21-7, 21-9, and Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand completed the turnaround with a 21-13, 21-12 win against Ng Tsz Yau and Ng Wing Yung.

In the other half of the draw, third seeds Indonesia were beaten 3-1 by South Korea, despite Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo winning the opening match 21-17, 21-16 against Lee Yun-gyu.

Second seeds Japan also crashed out, with Pakkapon Teeraratsakul and Phataimas Muenwong clinching the decider 21-16, 17-21, 21-14 against Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito to seal a 3-2 victory for Thailand.

Semi-finals at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship are set to be held tomorrow.