On February 18, the 2022 Asian Badminton Team Championships continued the competition for the group stage, and in a key group showdown of the men's team, the host Malaysia team faced Japan. As the leader of Malaysia, Li Zijia, as the first single to fight, fought hard to complete the reversal in three sets, defeated the Japanese rookie Qin Yelu, and in the end, the Malaysian men's team fought hard for five games, 3-2 to kill the Japanese team, with a three-game victory in the group stage, the first place advanced to the top 4. The Japanese men's team, which won 1 win and 2 losses in the group stage, was out, and the defending champion Indonesia men's team also won all three games and advanced to the top 4.
As the Toyo Cup qualifier held in Bangkok, Thailand in May, only the top three teams are eligible to enter the main tournament. Because of the impact of the epidemic, Guoyu did not participate, and most of the other teams did not send the main lineup, mainly substitutes or second-tier young players, focusing on training. As the host, the Malaysian team is determined to win the championship, so the men's and women's teams have sent the main team, and the men's single brother Li Zijia, who has been free, returned to the national team and led the team to go out, with only one goal, that is, to win the championship.
Malaysia, which is also divided into Group B with Japan, Singapore and Kazakhstan, encountered the Singapore team led by the new men's singles champion Luo Jianyou at last year's World Championships in the first group match, and the first singles showdown between the two sides was also regarded as Li Zijia's revenge battle, after all, in the confrontation between the two last year, Li Zijia was completely defeated. In the end, Li Zijia took revenge on Luo Jianyou 2-0 as he wished, and even played a huge score of 21-6 in a single set. In the end, the Malaysian men's team swept Singapore 5-0 and won the opening red. In the second match against the weak brigade Kazakhstan, Li Zijia truceed, and Malaysia still swept 5-0, winning two consecutive games and locking in the promotion place in advance.
The final match of the group stage against Japan is seen as a key test of whether Malaysia can beat the championship. Despite securing the group qualifiers, Malaysia is still fully active. In the first match, Li Zijia played against Japanese rookie Qin Yelu, and after losing one set first 15-21, he won two consecutive sets 21-6, 21-15 to complete the reversal. However, in the second match between the two sides in the first doubles matchup, the combination of Xie Dingfeng and Su Weiyi was upset 21-23, 16-21 against Endo Saidou / Takei Yuta. In the third match of the two singles, Adil lost to Takahashi 21-19, 16-21, 15-21, and Malaysia was in trouble. In the fourth two-double duel, Wu Shifei / NuiZudin withstood the pressure, and with a first loss of one set 17-21, they won two consecutive sets against Megusaki Juntaro and Nishida Yoko 21-17, 21-17 to draw the big score to a 2-2 draw. The final three-single showdown became a life-and-death battle, Liang Junhao won Moriguchi Hangslang 21-8, 21-16, helping Malaysia complete the counterattack, locking up the victory 3-2 with a big score, and advancing to the top 4 with a three-game unbeaten record.
In the men's group B, Singapore ranked second with 2 wins and 1 loss, and also successfully advanced to the top 4, while Japan was eliminated with 1 win and 2 losses. In men's team A, the defending champion Indonesia performed steadily, beating South Korea and India 3-2 in two consecutive games after the first 4-1 light victory over Hong Kong, respectively, and also advanced to the top four of the group with an unbeaten record. The South Korean team advanced to the second place in the group with 2 wins and 1 loss. The men's team played in the semi-finals, Malaysia against South Korea and Indonesia against Singapore. In the semi-finals of the women's team, the defending champion Japan played against Indonesia, and the host Malaysia team also played against the South Korean team.