With shouts of "Malaysia Boleh" (Malaysia Can Do It) coming from supporters living in Japan, the Malaysian boys must have felt right at home.

In spite of losing one of it's key players for the rest of the competition - Wong Choong Hann snapped his Achilles tendon on court - Malaysia secured a 3/1 victory over Korea in the tie of the day. China, Indonesia and Denmark were the other winners, as expected.

There is something about this team, Malaysia, which could just make the difference - an incredible team spirit, a way of looking forward, always, no matter what. And it took a lot of guts for all Malaysian players to forget about their compatriot's serious injury and get back on court to fight for the title, still showing a high team spirit.

After Lee Chong Wei had shown the way against Lee Hyun Il, Chan and Koo were a bit shaky and lost to an effective Korean pair of Jung and Hwang 18/21 - 22/24 and it was then Wong Choon Hann's turn to enter the arena with a clear advantage over Park Sung Hwan on paper. Yet few minutes into the match, the Malaysian stepped back and fell on the ground holding his right foot. Within seconds the doctor declared him as unable to continue and he was helped off the court by teammates to a stretcher and taken directly to the hospital by taxi.

The tournament doctor, Dr Guruhcharan Singh later stated that this kind of serious injuries had to be taken care of immediately and mentioned that Wong would be flying back to Malaysia on Thursday and going for surgery right away. It was stated later on that Wong could also be operated on immediately in Japan. "The quicker he gets surgery, the quicker he will come back on court," said Dr Guru. "It is very difficult to say now the outcome of this injury, it all depends on his ability to recover, but it is true that it can be very difficult for such a player to come back to a top level after such an injury," he added.

Nevertheless, if most of his compatriots went to see him right away, they were also driven by the will to fight for him and their country and catch up on the tie, now trailing 1-2 to Korea. Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah did their job against Lee Young Dae and Han Sang Hoon - the Koreans didn't use their poker-faced Lee Jae Jin as they had hinted the previous evening. The Malaysian veterans struggled a bit in the first game 21/18 but were lifted up by the strong Malaysian community who had gathered in one quarter of the stadium with their flags and cheering songs and finally won 21/10 in the second game. Hafiz just had to find the right pace against Jang Young Soo and in the first game won 21/18. Then the match was all his, finding his tricky shots and fast smashes as efficient as ever to bring his team into the semi final. "I just went out to do my best but I was a little bit nervous at the beginning and it took me a little time to adjust to the playing conditions," said Hafiz.

On the overall win, Rexy Mainaky, double's coach for Malaysia, was quite happy. "We still need to work on some things for the doubles with Chong Ming and Koo, but overall, I'm both happy and proud. The boys played well and they showed that they should rather fight for Wong than be sad. Now, we have no other choice than fight all the way, with no options on the single players. They will have to deliver but I believe our fighting spirit will be there. And the fact that some Danes are unbeatable doesn't mean anything. It's in the big competition that we see who is the best," warned Rexy.

For the Danes, who will be Malaysia's next opponents in the semi final on Friday, it was more of a simple fight compared to Malaysia's fate. Gade, Jonassen and Eriksen/Lundgaard secured good wins against India, and have spared some energy. "Yet I don't think the physical part will be such a key factor in the next matches," said Jonassen. "We are well prepared and ready to take the challenge. But no matter what, the winner of this competition will be who ever is able to adjust to the conditions better. We are playing in a new hall with some difficult conditions. And then next time the change of court configuration will change these conditions, so it will all be up to the one who can adjust the best. We have no pressure even if we have set our target to reach the final at least - and possibly win - but I believe that we have one secret is that we are able to give it all out because we play both as individuals and also for our country. On my side, wearing this T-shirt helps me as I can play better in team competitions. Last but not least, we were all there last time in 2004, in the final, and we know what to expect. We'll have the experience on our side this time," added the Dane. Malaysia is warned and so are their future opponents should the Scandinavians enter another final.

The top part of the draw will field Indonesia against China. The Indonesians had a bit of a scare in the noisy stadium when they played Japan and saw Taufik Hidayat lose to Sato in a thrilling match, won by the Japanese 23/21 in the decider. Yet the world and Olympic champion still seemed relaxed and smiling after his defeat and knew he could count on his team mates to deliver the winning points in spite of his bad start. And so they did.

Sony Dwi Kuncoro, then came out and did his duty, winning against Sho Sasaki. It was then the two younger pairs Alven/Luluk and Setiawan/Kidho, who secured victories. Budiarto and Wijaya were probably being saved for the semi final clash against China. The title holders were the first to qualify in the morning session. Lin Dan, whose smash was recorded at 289kn per hour, still seemed to be missing some of that sharpness and lost a game against much lower ranked Andrew Smith. Bao and Cai/Fu secured the two missing points. China will then play Indonesia, with some high level matches expected, such as a dream Taufik/Lin Dan meeting, with both having shown some weaknesses the past few days...