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BEIJING - Malaysian star Lee Chong Wei powered into the Olympic men's badminton final Friday to keep the hopes of a nation alive, after fighting off South Korea's champion Lee Hyunil.
Lee, the world number two, downed Lee in a nail-biting semi-final encounter 21-18, 13-21, 21-13, as he guns for his country's first ever Olympic gold medal in any sport.
Lee said he was nervous during the first game and almost gave up on the second game, before steeling himself for the third.
"Today I went all out," said Lee.
South Korea's Lee said he was trying to save energy to last out the match, but eventually ran out of steam.
The Malaysian second seed takes on the winner of the other semi-final between China's world number one Lin Dan and compatriot Chen Jin, later Friday as the host nation marches closer to its goal of clinching all five golds.
In the men's doubles, China's Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng downed South Korea's Lee Jae Jin and Hwang Ji Man to reach the final after another unruly match between the two nations.
The win set up a gold medal showdown with Indonesia's Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan.
The Chinese were called for serving faults during the match, prompting deafening howls of protest from the crowd and sending the Chinese coach over to the chair on one occasion to angrily dispute the ruling.
The controversy appeared to rattle the South Koreans who were edged out in the first game and then fell apart in the second, going down 22-20, 21-8.
Cai celebrated the win by ripping off his shirt, showing the words "Face of Adversity" tattooed across his back, and marching around the court as the packed crowd roared with approval.
"The referee didn't allow us to serve to the back of the court, only the front. This made it very difficult for us because we have never encountered such a situation before, so we couldn't understand what was going on," he said.
The unseeded Korean pair, in contrast, quickly left the arena and refused to talk with waiting reporters. A small section of Korean fans, meanwhile, were booed and at least one object was flung into the arena.
The match is the second between the rival badminton nations marred by controversial exchanges between players and coaches over rulings.
South Korea's Lee was booed by sections of the Chinese crowd during his quarterfinal win on Thursday over third seed Bao Chunlai.
- AFP/ir
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