Kuala Lumpur: No. 2 seed Lee Chong Wei was handed a testing All England draw on Tuesday, with Lin Dan in his half.
Lee, who won last year’s All England Open and is eyeing his fifth All England title, will begin against Ygor Coelho of Brazil.
On the other hand, five time All England champion Lin Dan, will meet Denmark player Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus first.
Lee must navigate past either Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark or Lee Dong Keun of Korea in the second round and Lin Dan has to defeat the winner between Wang Tzu Wei of Taiwan and Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand before setting up the epic quarter-final collision with Lee.
Meanwhile, although World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen has said he would withdraw from the tournament, his name still appeared at the top half of the draw. His half notably includes No. 4 seed Chen Long, No. 5 seed Son Wan Ho and No. 7 seed Shi Yuqi.
In women’s singles, defending champion and top seed Tai Tzu Ying will face a tough first round test, playing against Saina Nehwal of India in the opener.
Malaysia’s teenager Goh Jin Wei will hope to regain some form after her less than satisfaction performance during the Asian Team Championships in which she will take on He Bingjiao of China in the first round.
The Rio Olympic champion Carolina Marin was drawn to the bottom half with No. 2 seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, No. 4 seed P. V. Sindhu of India, and reigning world champion No. 7 seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.
Marin’s first test could come in the quarterfinals, where she could face No. 2 seed Akane Yamaguchi and should Marin able to make to the semi-finals, she would need to take on either PV Sindhu or Nozomi Okuhara for a final berth.
