KUALA LUMPUR, 10 July 2005 — Defending champion Lee Chong Wei remained on course for a back-to-back Malaysian Open badminton tournament title after sending China’s Bao Chunlai packing in the men’s singles semifinals yesterday.

No. 4 seed Lee bounced back from a first game deficit to carve a 11-15, 15-12 and 15-9 victory, which was also his third straight career win over No. 5 seed Bao.

Standing between the 22-year old Lee and his second successive title in the four-star tournament is China’s World No. 1 Lin Dan, who overcame a stiff challenge from 1998 winner Peter Gade from Denmark in the other semifinal clash.

Lin, a quarterfinalist in last year’s edition but aiming to lift his fourth title this year, took 74 minutes to dispose off Gade 9-15, 15-2, 15-5.

Boosted by a capacity crowd at the Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium, Lee found Bao’s deft strokes difficult to cope with in the first game but once he found his rhythm in the second game, there was simply no stopping the Malaysian.

The turning point in the second game occurred when Lee, who upset Olympic Games gold medalist Taufik Hidayat in the quarterfinals Friday, bounced back after a 5-0 deficit to win 15-12.

The deciding game ended with a smash directed at southpaw Bao’s forehand, earning Lee a date with Lin in the final today.

“I was a bit slow in adjusting to Chunlai’s game in the first set. In the second game, I managed to put him under intense pressure.

“With the crowd fully behind me, I stepped up the pace in the third game,” Lee said.

Having stretched Lin to three games in their only meeting so far at the Thomas Cup qualifiers last year, the Penang-born shuttler is optimistic of ending the campaign on a high note before taking on the world’s best in the World Championships in Anaheim, United States, Aug. 15-21.

After all, Lee is attempting to join a select band of shuttlers.

Since the inaugural championship in 1937, only Malaysia’s Wong Peng Soon (1940, 1941, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953), Thailand’s Charoen Watanasin (58-59), Malaysia’s Tan Aik Huang (65-66), China’s Xiong Guobao (88-89) and former local favorite Rashid Sidek (1990-92) have succeeded in retaining their men’s singles titles.

Lin, 20, is also eyeing the championship in his bid to become only the sixth Chinese ace to bag the prestigious title, in the footsteps of Zhao Jianhua (1986), Yang Yang (1987), Guobao Luo Yigang (1999) and Chen Hong (2003).

In the women’s singles, No 2 seed Zhang Ning from China will meet her unseeded compatriot Zhu Lin in the final. Zhang defeated Holland’s Yao Jie 11-3, 11-5 while Zhu beat Li Li from Singapore 11-3, 11-3.