Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei beat Lin Dan at Asian Badminton Championship semifinal

Malaysia's badminton ace Lee Chong Wei beat his arch-rival Lin Dan of China in the semifinals of the Asian Badminton Championships in central Chinese city of Wuhan on Saturday.

World number two Lee scored a 22-20, 15-21, 21-4 victory in the highly-anticipated clash, which was a latest opportunity for power comparison between the two veterans as both are gearing up for their last Olympics in Rio.

Records of previous meetings are in favor of the Chinese, with 25 wins compared to Lee's 10 wins. It was Lin, now ranked third in the world, who twice denied Lee the single's gold medal at the Olympics - in Beijing 2008 and London 2012.

After the semifinal, the 32-year-old Chinese said "despite an 18-14 lead in the beginning, I lost the first game, which affected my mind."

The two-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion also admitted that "in the third game, my speed slowed and my energy declined and I made a few mistakes."

"Lin Dan could hardly catch up with my pace towards the end of the match. I think he must have been tired and he is no longer young," said 33-year-old Lee, adding that he maintained a better condition because recently he had not played as many tournaments as Lin had.

Lee's victory allowed him to set up a final showdown with world number one Chen Long of China, who beat his younger teammate Tian Houwei 21-14, 21-16 earlier in the day.

Chen was confident about the final on Sunday, saying "I played Lin and Lee many times. As I told Wang Shixian, I will try my best and what's left for her to do is just cheer me on."

Chen's teammate and girlfriend, Wang lost to India's Saina Nehwal in the women's singles quarter-finals 16-21, 19-21 the previous day. The defeat will likely make it harder for Wang to secure a ticket to Rio, analysts said, as both Olympic gold medalist Li Xuerui and silver medalist Wang Yihan cruised to the semifinal at the Asian Badminton Championships.

In the women's singles semifinals, Wang Yihan defeated Saina Nehwal 21-16 21-14, while Li Xuerui crushed South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun 22-20 21-11.

In the mixed doubles semifinal, Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei of China beat Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na of South Korea 21-19, 21-11, setting up a final against Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia, who defeated Shin Baek Cheol and Chae Yoo Jung of South Korea 21-16, 21-13.