With the Group B opening tie against Turkey locked at 2-2 after the fourth match, the responsibility fell on the debutants to decide the outcome, a scenario Zi Yu admitted caught them by surprise.

“Of course we felt the pressure because we didn’t think we would be at 2-2 but then we just played on, without much thought,” she said after the match. Noraqilah said the key to their victory was keeping things simple and not letting the situation overwhelm them.

Zi Yu-Noraqilah emerged as Malaysia’s unlikely heroes, sealing the decisive point after surviving a strong Turkish fightback.

They showed composure to overcome Yasemen Bektas-Zehra Erdem 21-18, 21-19 in 44 minutes and rescue Malaysia from an early scare by emerging with a 3-2 win over their opponent.

Team captain M Thinaah said she and partner Ong Xin Yee were unable to execute their game plan while consistently under pressure which caused them to go down 22-20, 19-21, 19-21 to Bengisu Ercetin-Nazlican Inci in the fourth match.

“Our performance just now was certainly disappointing. We are very sorry for not delivering the winning point for Malaysia. Hopefully we can come back stronger after this,” she said.

Second singles player and world No 38 Wong Ling Ching, who was stunned by world No 78 Ozge Bayrak 17-21, 21-15, 18-21 in the second match, admitted she was far from fully fit and still struggling with back pain that affected her movement and rhythm on court.

The 22-year-old said she had already anticipated a difficult match, having entered the tournament without full training due to injury setbacks picked up at the training camp recently.

Malaysia earned their first point through main singles player K Letshanaa, who battled through nearly an hour before overcoming Neslihan Arin 21-16, 12-21, 21-13 while professional player Goh Jin Wei delivered the second point for Malaysia, thanks to a convincing 21-14, 21-13 victory over Erdem.

Malaysia will play South Africa in their second Group B match tomorrow followed by Japan on April 27.