Their resounding 3-0 victory sent them to semifinal to assure India of a medal, but the team will be hoping to go one better than the silver they won in the previous edition in 2023 Hangzhou, China.

India needed their highest-ranked singles player Sen to click. But given his recent struggles, both mentally and physically, and with the 14th-ranked Indian up against world No. 7 Kodai Naraoka, there were some nerves.

Losing the first game rather meekly, 11-21, had the Indian camp worried. But the 25-year-old switched gears to completely re-write the script, blanking the two-time world championships silver-medallist Naraoka 21-5 in the second.

With the home crowd roaring behind their player, Sen's swiftness and deception helped him edge past the Japanese 21-19 in the decider, giving India the first point.

Next up were doubles stars Chirag and Satwik, ranked fourth in the world, against the ninth-ranked Japanese pair of Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi. The Japanese put up a fight, but didn't have enough to stop the in-form Indians. Satwik-Chirag prevailed 21-18, 24-22 to put India within one win of the semifinal.

Ayush then ensured Koki Watanabe could do nothing to stop the Indians' party. The 21st-ranked Ayush silenced both the world No. 16 Watanabe and the Japanese supporters at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium with a 21-10, 21-19 victory.

Some traditional rivalry awaits the pumped-up Indian men's team in the last-four clash. Standing across the court on Wednesday will be China, who scored a 3-2 win over Korea. More come ons, fist pumps and high-voltage play is all ready to get unleashed.

Women lose

In yet another classic PV Sindhu-Akane Yamaguchi contest, it was the Japanese who got the better of the Indian on Tuesday. The two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu's loss proved too costly as India went down 1-3 to Japan in the women's team quarterfinal.

Despite a valiant fight, the 11-ranked Sindhu lost 23-21, 18-21, 6-21 to world No. 3 Yamaguchi before Unnati Hooda's effort was then muted by world No. 7 Tomoka Miyazaki in a straight-game 21-16, 21-18 contest.

Though the in-form pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, recent World Championships bronze medallists, claimed the doubles tie 21-17, 21-16 against Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto, Tanvi Sharma surrendering to former world champion Nozomi Okuhara, 12-21, 10-21 ended India's hopes of the women advancing to the semifinal and securing a medal.