Malaysia's singles ace Datuk Lee Chong Wei failed to get past Lin Dan of China in the men's singles semifinals of the badminton competition in the Asian Games at the Gyeyang Gymnasium today.

Chong Wei lost to Lin Dan in a thrilling three setter, going down in 20-22, 21-12 and 9-21 in an hour and 12 minutes.

"First game (set), I should have clinched it but maybe I relaxed a bit when I was leading 16-14 and wanted to end the set quickly. In the third set, Lin Dan was very confident.

"At 7-2, I found it difficult to catch up with him. I have done my best and accept this defeat," he said afterwards.

However, Chong Wei took the second set 21-12 to force the rubber set.

In the end, Chong Wei had to settle for the bronze when he lost the rubber set.

In the other semifinal match, Chen Long of China took only 35 minutes to defeat Hong Kong's Wei Nan in 21-6 and 21-10 to book his meeting with Lin Dan for the gold medal tomorrow.