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.

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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.

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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)