Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy booked their spots in the semi-finals of the Badminton Asia Championships after contrasting wins in the quarters on Friday.
Nehwal fought back from a 3-8 deficit to beat Korea’s Lee Jang Mi 21-15, 21-13 in 43 minutes in their quarter-final. Nehwal now awaits the winner of the match between top seed Tai Tzu Ying and China’s He Bingjiao in the last four.
Prannoy later joined Nehwal in the semi-finals after ousting second seed Son Wan Ho 18-21, 23-21, 21-12 in a match that lasted an hour and 12 minutes.
Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei beat Kidambi Srikanth for the second time this month, as the 35-year-old defied his age to beat the Indian top seed 21-12, 21-15 in the quarter-finals.
World No 3 PV Sindhu was also knocked out in the quarters by Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun, who beat the Indian 21-19, 21-10.
Chong Wei and Srikanth had played out a gruelling three-game match in the final of the Commonwealth Games 2018 earlier this month, where the Malaysian had come back from a game down to win.
The world No 7 was in no mood to go the distance this time as he completely dominated the Indian in the match, needing only 32 minutes to secure the victory.
The two players shared the first six points of the match before Chong Wei broke free thanks to a few unforced errors from Srikanth. There was no stopping him as he took the first game 21-12 with ease.
Srikanth briefly fought back in the second game, even winning five straight points in the first half, before Chong Wei took control again and even included a few trick shots as he finished it off 21-15.
Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy are now guaranteed a medal at the event.
Semi-final lineup:
Chen Long (No 3) vs HS Prannoy (Around 1 pm IST)
Tai Tzu Ying (No 1) vs Saina Nehwal (Following Prannoy’s match)