Powerhouses China and South Korea won over Indonesia and Malaysia respectively here on Monday to set a final clash in the badminton men's team event at the Doha Asian Games.

China's Lin Dan eyes the shuttlecock during his match against Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat during the men's team badminton event at Asian Games in Doha December 4, 2006.[Reuters]

Spearheaded by world No. 1 Lin Dan, the Chinese shuttlers smashed the Indonesian peers again just as they did in the group stage.

Although Lin trailed 12-16 in the opening set, the 23-year-old world champion fought back by collecting six points in a row.

After winning the first set 22-20, Lin encountered an extremely active Taufik and quickly lost the second game 21-13.

In the rubber set, Lin, nicknamed "Super Dan" taking advantage of his rival's lack of strength, knocked off the Athens Olympic champion 21-12.

"My opponent and I are both in form," said Lin after winning the heart-stirring duel. "I won because I trained hard for the Asian Games and I was relaxed during the fight."

Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, doubles event winner at this year's Madrid World Championships, lost to Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan 14-21, 21-18, 16-21.

Afterwards, Asian Games rookie Chen Jin took a sweet revenge by beating Simon Santoso 21-19, 16-21, 21-14 in the third game. The 20-year-old Chen lost to Santoso 14-21, 8-21 on Saturday.

Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat returns a shot against China's Lin Dan in the men's badminton team league stage semi-finals at the 15th Asian Games in Doha December 4, 2006. [Reuters]

Chen disputed with the umpire for controversial line calls several times and received a yellow card. "I felt that the umpire was a little biased against me.

In the fourth game, Xie Zhongbo and Guo Zhendong sealed the win for China by beating Luluk Hadiyanto/Alvent Yulianto Chandra 6-21, 21-6 and 21-16.

South Korea blew off mighty Malaysia 3-1, only Athens Olympic silver medallist Park Sung Hwan losing to Hashim Muhammad Hafiz 12- 21, 21-11, 17-21.

In the women's part, China swept South Korea, defending champion China trampled South Korea 3-0 through efforts of top two singles Zhang Ning, Xie Xingfang and world No.1 doubles pair Gao Ling and Huang Sui.

Athens Olympic champion Zhang Ning showed no sign of age in front of 21-year-old Lee Yun Hwa, 10 years younger than Zhang. Zhang knocked off Lee 21-14 and 21-7 in 19 minutes.

Li Yongbo, the Chinese badminton team's head coach, thought the unbeatable Chinese women's lineup had not face any challenges at the Asian Games.

"The South Korean shuttlers looked tired today as they had to play two matches yesterday to take the last semifinal berth. Besides, they might thought that it was impossible to defeat their Chinese peers, so they weren't aggressive at all."

In Monday's first semifinal, Japan, unexpectedly edging South Korea in the group stage, finished off Singapore 3-0.

The clash between Japan and China is going to be held on Tuesday." Japan is stronger than South Korea," said Li Yongbo.