Malaysia’s challenge at the 2018 Badminton Asia Championship in Wuhan, China, ended today when Lee Chong Wei went down to the in-form Kento Momota of Japan in the men's singles semi-finals.

The 35-year-old, who was the tournament's fifth seed, slogged for 54 minutes before losing in a straight-set thriller 19-21, 14-21 at the Wuhan Sports Centre.

Lee, who was seeking his third Asia Championships title, booked his place in the semi-finals when he disposed of the tournament's top seed, K.Srikanth of India, in the quarter-finals yesterday.

As for Momota, who recently finished serving a one-year ban for gambling in 2016, he tore apart Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan to book his meeting with Lee.

Momota’s final opponent will be world number three and defending champion Chen Long, who earlier defeated India's H.S. Prannoy in straight sets 21-16, 21-18.