Raman shook Hiroshi Shibutani by wresting the opening game 21-14 in the second singles before going down 15-21, 21-16. Koji Matsushita beat National champion Chetan Baboor 21-15, 21-14 in the first singles while Toshio Tasaki wrapped up the tie for the hosts with a 21-17, 21-9 win over Arup Basak, according to information reaching here.

In the play-offs, M S Mythili beat Ng Sock Khim 21-9 21-11 as India fought back after Poulomi Ghatak was beaten by Yao Lin-Jing 15-21, 12-21. India went into lead with N R Indu defeating Alice Ngu Kiew Foong 21-14 17-21 21-10.

Mythili then lost to Yao Lin Jing 9-21 14-21 as Malaysia levelled but Poulomi defeated Sock Khim 21-17 21-13 in the decider to hand India a fine win.

Itwas a case of second time unlucky for the men's team, led by national champion Chetan Baboor, as they had lost to Japan at the quarter-final stage of the previous edition of the tournament.

China, N Korea in final: Later, world champions China breezed past South Korea to enter the final in the women's team championships. They will now clash for the title with world silver medalists North Korea who managed to squeeze past Hong Kong 3-2 in the other semi-finals.

There were no upsets in the men's quarter-finals with world champions China, defending champions South Korea, and Taiwan all joining Japan in the semi-finals with identical 3-0 wins over Indonesia, Hong Kong and Australia.Results (all team events)

Preliminary Stage: GROUP G (Men): India bt Pakistan 3-0 (Chetan Baboor bt Kashif Razaq 21-12, 21-17; S. Raman bt Asim Qureshi 21-18, 21-15; Arup Basak bt Shakil Ahmed 21-10, 21-5). Group G (Women): India bt Australia 3-1 (MS Mythili bt Tammy Gough 21-17, 22-20; NR Indu lost toShirley Zhou 16-21, 17-21; Poulomi Ghatak bt Miao Miao by walkover; MS Mythili bt Shirley Zhou 15-21, 21-19, 21-15).