BEIJING, Aug 14: China’s badminton star Lin Dan stormed into the semi-final of the men’s Olympic badminton Thursday, but China’s number two crashed out as South Korea and Malaysia marched on.

World champion Lin, the hot gold medal favourite, played a controlled and classy quarter-final against Denmark’s veteran Peter Gade, winning 21-13, 21-16 as the near full-house cheered his every point.

Lin now takes on China’s fourth seed Chen Jin.

But China suffered an upset as they gun for gold when South Korea’s Lee Hyunil dumped their third seed Bao Chunlai from the tournament in a heated quarter-final marred by a controversial umpiring decision.

Lee, ranked 10 in the world, downed Bao with power and craft 23-21, 21-11 in front of the packed Chinese crowd, some of whom booed the South Korean champion as he left the gymnasium.

Protests held up play for more than five minutes as both players and South Korea’s bench questioned the umpire’s decision and the referee’s overruling as the crowd jeered.

The match was always going to be tense after this year’s controversial final of the Korean Open when Lin angrily confronted the South Korean coach after losing the match against Lee.

Midway through the first game, the umpire penalised Bao for scooping the shuttle rather than hitting it, prompting protests from the Chinese bench before the presiding referee turned over the decision.

A South Korean coach stormed over to the umpire’s chair to protest, and had to be coaxed back to his bench, before the point was replayed.

Bao, for his part, blamed the loss on a failure to pull ahead quickly.

China, who are gunning for a clean sweep of all five golds, have the men’s singles title firmly in their sights after falling short in Athens.

South Korea’s Lee plays Malaysian star Lee Chong Wei in their semi-final after he steamrolled Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro to keep Malaysia’s hopes alive of winning their first ever gold medal.

With Malaysia’s doubles stars, and Lee’s girlfriend Wong Mew Choo crashing out of these Games, Lee is the nation’s last remaining hope in badminton and its strongest chance of winning its first gold in any sport.

Lee, ranked second in the world, played down his 21-9, 21-11 quarter-final victory over the Indonesian, achieved with a mixture of delicate drop shots and airborne attacks, saying the Athens bronze medallist seemed hit by nerves.

Lee was also circumspect about his chances of causing an upset over China to clinch gold, saying although he had beaten their top players before, they were enjoying a home ground advantage.

China’s Chen Jin thumped Taiwan’s Hsieh Yu-Hsing, ranked just 46 in the world, to move into the semi-finals against Lin.

Chen, the All England champion, raced to a 14-4 lead and conceded just four more points on his way to wrapping up the first game.

Unseeded Hsieh offered more resistance in the second game, but Chen was never in trouble, and quickly killed off a one-sided affair 21-14.—AFP