The Malaysian men's team have advanced to the semifinal round of the ongoing Thomas Cup Finals 2016 badminton team championships on Wednesday after securing a 3-1 triumph over the Chinese Taipei team at the Kunshan Sports Center in Jiangsu, China.

Malaysia was coming fresh from a thrilling victory against South Korea on Tuesday to finish on top of Group C. The team also defeated England (4-1) and Germany (5-0) in the preliminary stage of the prestigious badminton event.

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According to The Star, incumbent world's second-highest ranked men's singles shuttler Lee Chong Wei gave the Southeast Asian country an inspiring start following his two-straight sets 21-18, 21-18 victory over Chou Tien Chen, who currently holds the seventh spot in the BWF's world rankings. The Malaysian badminton ace claimed the first point for his team in just 48 minutes.

However, the Taiwanese pair Lee Sheng Mu and Tsai Chia Hsin broke the momentum and emerged as the winners in men's doubles after they got the better of the Malaysian tandem of V Shem Goh and Tan Wee Kiong 16-21, 21-19, 21-19 to level the scoreboard to 1-all.

In the third match, reigning national champion and current world No. 36 Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin gave back the lead to Team Malaysia after an impressive 21-8, 21-13 win over Hsu Jen Hao, who is ranked as world no. 24. The right-handed Kuala Lumpur-based shuttler needed just 44 minutes to wrap the win.

In the fourth scheduled game, Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong won over Chen Hung Ling and Wang Chi Lin to seal the tie for the Malaysian team with a 21-16, 22-20 victory in a game that lasted for just 40 minutes.

Malaysia will be taking on the winner between Team Japan and Team Denmark in the semifinal round on Friday.

TagsLee Chong Wei, thomas & uber cup, bwf 2016, bwf, bwf rankings