From the way they were playing, the Rio Olympics badminton semi-final men’s singles looked as though it was the final.

In an epic showdown that would mark the end of an era for international badminton, it was Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei who narrowly but eventually edged out China’s Lin Dan to book a place in the final -- and a shot at his and his country's first Olympic Gold.

Two of badminton’s biggest names, it was the Chinese who had stood in the way of the Malaysian's attempts for gold at the previous two Olympic finals in 2008 in Beijing and again in 2012 in London.

The professional rivalry between the two shuttlers go back to more than a decade.

Overall, the Chinese came out victorous 25 times in 36 previous encounters over more than a decade before this current semi-final.

Both Lee, 33 and Lin, 32, are expected to have retired by Tokyo 2020.

The spirit of their professional rivalry has been captured in a catchy song Frienemy, written by Namewee, a Malaysian songwriter-filmmaker:

On his Facebook page, Namewee describes himself as:

A patriotic and multi-talented generation-Y Malaysian who builds his own unique brand through creating his own unique brand of Web 2.0 content including music, documentary and film through his own platform.

Even if you do not understand Chinese, the images and the uber catchy melody would give you a hint of one of the most epic rivalries in sporting memory.

Of course, the English subtitles to the song helped loads.

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Top photos via Khairy Jamaluddin Twitter, Namewee