Chong Wei swiftly moves closer to elusive BWF world title

National badminton ace Datuk Lee Chong Wei took another step closer to the elusive world title when he advanced to the semi-final of the BWF World Championship 2014 on Friday.

In the men's singles quarter-final round at the Ballerup Super Arena here, the world number one only needed 39 minutes to outclass sixth seeded Wang Zhengming of China, 21-8, 21-11.

The win also saw Chong Wei extended his winning records to 12-0 over the Chinese player.

Chong Wei is scheduled to face host's young star, Viktor Axelsen in the semi-final on Saturday after the 14th seeded defeated Taiwan's Chou Tien Chen 21-14, 21-14 in another quarter-final match.

Based on their records, Axelsen lost five previous meetings against Chong Wei.

Speaking to reporters after the match, Chong Wei said he did not expect to beat Zhengming easily.

He said he did not want to think so much about advancing to the final, but to focus more on preparing himself for the next match.

"I was also quite surprised by the many unexpected results in this championship. My opponent in the semi-final is not an easy one.

"Don't think just because (third seeded) Jan O Jorgensen from Denmark withdrew, I will have an easy ticket to the final. I consider all my opponents as tough opponents," he said.

The Penang-born shuttler also expressed hope that Malaysian badminton fans would continue to pray that he would advance to the final after he failed to do so in the 2011's edition in England and 2013's edition in China.

Despite being the world number one, Chong Wei, 31, has yet to win the elusive world championships title and the Olympic gold medal.

In the meantime, men's singles coach Tey Seu Bock said he was satisfied with Chong Wei's extraordinary performance over Zhengming.

However, the coach said Chong Wei should not take Axelsen as an easy opponent despite many speculations that he had a better chance to advance to the final.

"I'm also a bit surprised by Chong Wei's performance in the quarter-final today and I saw his enthusiasm and the momentum was great ...he was also confident with his game.

"We cannot say he has an easy path to the final because we don't know how high Axelsen's fighting spirit is...if he (Axelsen) plays against Chong Wei, I'm sure his spirit will definitely be at a different level," Tey said.

Another men's singles semi-final encounter on Saturday will involve second seeded Chen Long of China against the fifth seeded from Indonesia, Tommy Sugiarto.

Chen Long, however, was forced to play in a rubber set before defeating seventh seeded from South Korea Son Wan Ho 21-14, 12-21, 21-17, while Tommy tame the Dutch representative, Eric Pang 22-20, 21-19 victory in another quarter-final match.