Top seed Lee Chong Wei takes on unseeded Taiwanese shuttler Chou Tien Chen in the Men's singles semi-final of 2017 All England Championships in Birmingham on Saturday.
The Malaysian shuttler is into the last-four round of the ongoing tournament after demolishing seventh seed Tian Houwei of China 21-12, 21-15 in just 45 minutes yesterday. On the other hand, Chen, the world number nine, survived a marathon quarter-final (21-19, 16-21, 21-8), which extended to an hour and eight minutes, against Chen Long-slayer Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk.
Lee, who is all but playing his last All England Championships, will want to go the distance and the 34-year-old has looked in fine form since he recovered from his knee injury and took on Brice Leverdez in the opening round. There were not any signs of rustiness in his game despite him missing out on competitive action in the first two months of the 2017 season.
With a possible final showdown against Chinese legend and six-time champion Lin Dan on the cards, Lee would not want to stumble in the crucial semi-final today. Chen though is expected to provide a stiff fight to the three-time Olympic silver medalist after his impressive wins against in-form shuttlers Anthony GInting, Sony Kuncoro and Saensomboonsuk in Birmingham this year.
The 27-year-old also won last week's German Open, which also had the likes of Lin Dan and Chen Long featuring in it. With him losing their only meeting so far (2016 Rio Olympic quarter-final), Chen will be eyeing for revenge when he takes the court later today but he has to be at his best to stop the title-hungry Malaysian legend.
TV Schedule
Malaysia: AStro Supersport
China: LETV, GDTV
Taiwan: Sportcast
Thailand: True visions
Indonesia: Fox Sports
India: Star Sports
Australia: Fox Sports
Dubai: Dubai SPorts Channel
UK: BBC
Hong Kong: iCable, PCCW
US: One World Sport
Denmark: TV2
