China's Shi, Li to lock horns at Badminton All England semifinals

LONDON, March 14 (Xinhua) -- China's Shi Yuqi and Li Shifeng will fight for a men's singles final berth at the All England Badminton Championships as both won in straight games in Birmingham on Friday.

The 29-year-old top seed Shi defeated Loh Kean Yew from Singapore 21-18, 21-16 after the sixth seed Li ousting Lakshya Sen of India 21-10, 21-16.

"I'm so satisfied with my performance today," said the 25-year-old Li who lost to Sen in their last two meetings. "I prepared really well for this match and I played as I expected."

Li's semifinal against teammate Shi on Saturday will be a replay of the All England final in 2023 while Li was crowned in his first appearance in Birmingham.

"There have been ups and downs after the triumph here two years ago," said Li. "I won't think too much about the result but focus on my performance."

The other men's singles semifinal will be played between French Alex Lanier and Lee Chia-hao from Chinese Taipei.

The 20-year-old Lanier who beat Wang Tzu-wei of Chinese Taipei in straight games on Friday, is the only semifinal player not from Asia.

In the women's singles, China's Tokyo Olympic champion Chen Yufei could not hold off Paris Olympic champion An Se-young as she lost to the South Korean top seed 21-9, 21-14.

An will lock horns with Japanese ace Akane Yamaguchi as the third seed saw off her 18-year-old teammate Tomoka Miyazaki 26-24, 21-16.

The other women's singles semifinal will see a Chinese derby between Wang Zhiyi and Han Yue.

Meanwhile, the women's doubles semifinals will be played both between China and Japan. Three Chinese pairs reached the mixed doubles semifinals and He Jiting/Ren Xiangyu is the only medal hope for China in the men's doubles. ■