Lee Chong Wei to regain World No. 1 as he marches on to Indonesia Open Final

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Lee Chong Wei regains World No. 1 spot. (photo: Getty Images)

Jakarta: World No. 2 Lee Chong Wei is set to regain his World No. 1 Badminton World Federation (BWF) ranking after reaching the men’s singles final of the BCA Indonesia Open 2016 at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta on Saturday.Lee Chong Wei regains World No. 1 spot. (photo: Getty Images)

Playing against homester Ihsan Maulana Mustofa in the Indonesia semi-final, Lee Chong Wei quickly raced out to a huge lead at 14-4, 19-7 in the first set to wrap up the first game 21-9 with a powerful smash.

The game turned into a see-saw battle with the score tied at 15-15, 17-17 after Maulana found a better rhythm and received great support from the home crowd in the second set. Nevertheless, Lee responded with a great show of brilliance, and iron-willed resilience to finally edge past the Indonesia youngster 21-18 in a match that lasted 39 minutes.Jan O Jorgensen shows his delight and relief after winning his Indonesia Open semi-final against Tian Houwei. (photo: Getty Images)

Lee will meet Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark in the final on Sunday. Jorgensen was coming off an exhausting three-set win over Tian Houwei of China in other men’s singles semi-final as he beat the Chinese shuttler 21-14, 18-21, 21-17 in 69 minutes.

The World No. 2 Lee Chong Wei is currently just 3,241 points shy from World No. 1 Chen Long’s 92,194 points in the BWF rankings. Lee is guaranteed a minimum of 9,350 points as runner-up or 11,000 points if he wins his sixth Indonesia Open title.

In men’s doubles, World No. 1 Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong of Korea will set up a clash with Chinese pair No. 5 seeds Chai Biao/Hong Wei in the final. The No. 1 seeds South Koreans saw off Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 21-16, 21-14 in the semi-finals while Chai Biao/Hong Wei halted another Denmark pair Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding with an 18-21, 21-16, 21-14 semi-final win in 66 minutes.

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