Ginting into final of Badminton Asia Championships
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World number two Anthony Sinisuka Ginting reached the final of the Badminton Asia Championships on Saturday, outplaying Kanta Tsuneyama in straight games in just 37 minutes.
Unlike his hard-fought 82-minute battle against All England champion Li Shi Feng in the quarter-finals, Indonesia's Ginting was rarely troubled in his 21-13, 21-16 win over a rival who had a 1-3 head-to-head record against him before the match.
At Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Indoor Hall in Al Nasr Club on Sunday, Ginting will take on the seventh-ranked Loh Kean Yew in the final.
The in-form Singaporean won his fourth match in straight games, beating Lu Guang Zu of China 21-19, 21-15.
Loh becomes the first Singaporean to have reached a final at the Badminton Asia Championships.
In contrast to the men's singles, the women's semi-finals were both taken to three games.
Fourth-ranked Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan, who had recovered brilliantly from 6-13 down in the quarters against He Bing Jiao, upset the top-ranked Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-12, 16-21, 21-15 in 63 minutes.
Ying's reward will be a final match-up against second-ranked An Se Young of Korea, who prevailed over Chen Yu Fei in three games. After losing the first 16-21 to her Chinese opponent, An Se won the second 21-11, and then edged a close third 21-19.
The men's doubles final will feature India's Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy against Malaysians Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi.
Shetty and Satwik advanced when their Taiwan opponents Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin were forced to retire in the second game following an injury to the Chi-Lin. The Indians won the first game 21-18, but were trailing 13-14 in the second.
It was another first for the Satwik-Chirag pair as they not only assured themselves a podium finish, but also a shot at the title.
No Indian men's double team has had a podium finish in 45 years at the Asian Championships.
Yew Sin and Ee Yi defeated Japan's Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi 21-16, 26-24.
In the women's doubles semi-finals, Japan's Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota beat Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai 21-18, 21-15, while South Korea's Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee prevented an all-Japanese final by ousting Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara 16-21, 21-8, 21-13.