World number one Lee Chong Wei continued his run towards his first Olympic gold medal by booking a place in the last four at the Riocentro. Defending gold and bronze medallists, Lin Dan and Chen Long respectively followed suit, though both did drop a game in their last eight encounters. They were then joined by fourth seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark who was the last player to advance.

Lee and Axelsen win in straights

Lee is safely thorugh to his third Olympic semifinal in a row. Photo credit: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images.
Lee is safely through to his third Olympic semifinal in a row. Photo credit: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images.

Defending silver medallist Lee was the first player to step on court, the Malaysian meeting sixth seed Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei across the net. Both players were yet to lose a game en route to the quarterfinals but it was the top-ranked Lee who came out on top, dropping just 24 points to win 21-15, 21-9 in two-thirds of an hour.

The fourth-seeded Axelsen, who is in his debut Olympic appearance clashed with 13th seed Rajiv Ouseph of Great Britain in the last of four quarterfinals. Ouseph, who had upset seventh seed Tommy Sugiarto in the previous round was no match for the Dane, Axelsen needed about the same time as Lee to roll past the Brit 21-12, 21-16.

Lin and Chen fight off comebacks to advance

Two-time defending gold medallist Lin is two wins way from defending his medal. Photo credit: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images.
Two-time defending gold medallist Lin is two wins way from defending his medal. Photo credit: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images.

China’s hopes of winning medals in the singles discipline are kept alive with both Lin and Chen overcoming a mid-match revival from their opponents to move into the last four. Defending gold medallist Lin was the first of the pair to do so. The 32-year-old dropped his first game of the week against Indian’s Srikanth Kidambi, the ninth seed. The Chinese player however, denied his opponent the upset win by prevailing 21-6, 11-21, 21-18.

Chen’s match followed suit, facing eighth seed Son Wan-ho of South Korea. The second-seeded Chen won the first game without much fuss but the match soon saw the tide turned in favour of his Korean opponent who then levelled the match at one game apiece. Chen fought back to prevail 21-11, 18-21, 21-11.

Semifinals set

In the top half, Lee and Lin will clash in a rematch of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic final whilst Chen and first-time semifinalist Axelsen do battle in the bottom half of the draw. Both matches are scheduled to take place Friday.

Women's semifinal line-up

On the women’s side, top seed Carolina Marín continues her quest for Spain’s maiden Olympic badminton gold medal as she swept aside South Korea’s Sung Ji-Hyun in straight games. Meeting the Spaniard in the last four is China’s Li Xuerui who defeated Thai Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.

In the other semifinal encounter, P. V. Sindhu who scored an upset win over second seed Wang Yihan in the last eight plays Nozomi Okuhara, who prevailed over Akane Yamaguchi in an all-Japanese quarterfinal derby.

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About the author
Silas Low
21, Malaysian. A fan of WTA Tennis since 23rd January 2009.