TOKYO: Malaysian badminton king Lee Chong Wei on Saturday beat 15th ranked Marc Zwiebler of Germany in the semi-final at the Japan Open, moving a step closer to his sixth title of the Japanese tournament.

Lee, silver medallist in the last three Olympics, clinched a comfortable 21-14, 21-15 triumph to Zwiebler in the men’s singles at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.

The 33-year-old world No.1 set up a Japan title clash with third-seed Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark, who beat sixth-seed Son Wan Ho of South Korea 21-14, 21-19.

Lee seeks to reclaim the Japanese trophy that he took in 2014, 2013, 2012, 2010, and 2007, after recently hinting at possibly extending his career to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for another shot at an elusive badminton gold, despite earlier indicating the Rio Games would be his last.

In women’s singles, home fans were silenced following two crushing defeats of their domestic hopefuls, including 12th ranked Akane Yamaguchi, in the semi-finals.

Sun Yu of China secured a 21-17, 21-18 win to Yamaguchi, the first Japanese to win the Yonex Open Japan in 2013 at age 16.

Sun is to vie for the women’s title with He Bingjiao also of China, who knocked out Aya Ohori of Japan 21-17, 22-20.

In men’s doubles, Chinese pair Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen upset Indonesian pair Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, winners here in 2013, in a 21-13, 18-21, 21-15 victory.

The Chinese will clash with Korean pair Kim Gi Jung and Ko Sung Hyun in the final.

In women’s doubles, Rio gold winning Japanese pair Misaki Matsumoto and Ayaka Takahashi fended off challenges from their compatriots Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto with a 46-minute, 21-14, 21-19 win.

The Japanese pair will face their Danish rivals Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl, silver medallists in Rio.

Published in Dawn September 25th, 2016