BEIJING: Badminton star Lin Dan beat his South Korean opponent at the quarter-finals of the Asian Badminton Championship in China on Friday, setting up a semi-final with Malaysian rival Lee Chong Wei.

Lin — ranked third in the world — powered past Lee Dong-keun of South Korea 21-15, 21-11 in a quarter-final match in the central city of Wuhan.

World number two Lee beat Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-16, 21-18 to set up an exciting face-off with his Chinese rival.

In the women’s competition Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara triumphed over China’s Wang Yihan in a hard fought 8-21, 21-13, 21-19 match.

India’s Saina Nehwal set up a semi-final with Okuhara by dispatching China’s Wang Shixian in straight 21-16, 21-19 sets.

Saina, who had lost the last two meetings with Wang, prevailed despite energy-sapping rallies, Indian press agency PTI reported.

The other men’s semi-final will see world number one Chen Long of China play team-mate Tian Houwei.

The championship is worth $500,000 in prize money, according to the organiser’s website which reported the scores.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2016