Zayan Zaki advances to the semi-finals of the National Badminton Championship by defeating the last reigning champion, Ajfan in the quarterfinals. Zayan won his first national championship in 2017 after beating Ajfan in the final. However, in 2018 and 2019, Ajfan came out on top in the semifinals.

Zayan will face Thoif in the semifinals, which will take place this evening (November 13th). Thoif reached the semifinal after easily beating Ahmed Sadhin Jaleel with sets of 16-21 and 03-21. In the men’s second semifinal, Mohamed Akif will be playing against Nibal Ahmed. In the quarter finals, Akif won over Athif with sets of 19-21 and 17-21. While Nibal won against Haisham with sets of 09-21 and 13-21.

Women’s semifinal matches will also be played today. In the first semifinal match, the last reigning champion, Fathimath Nabaaha will play against Aishath Afnan. While Neela Najeeb’s opponent will be Aminath Nabeeha, who has won an international gold medal for Maldives.

Second division semifinal matches are scheduled to be played today as well. In the first semi-final match, Iyan will face Hassan Zayan from the men's singles second division. While Ahmed Hanoon plays against Hamza Abdulrahman in the second match.