Kuala Lumpur: The reigning World Champion – Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, will meet World No. 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the first round of the upcoming 2022 All England, according to the draw results published by Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday.
Both players have only met once in their career – where Loh defeated Antonsen 23-21, 21-14 in the semi-finals of the 2021 World Championships.
While Loh and Antonsen will have a lot at stake when both clash in the 2022 All England opener, the World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, and the World No. 2 Kento Momota of Japan have relatively easy first-round matchups as they were placed on opposite halves of the 2022 All England bracket, meaning they only could meet in the final. Axelsen will open against Sai B. Praneeth of India and Momota will take on Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark.
The 2021 All England men’s champion, No. 6 seed Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia will battle World No. 19 Kenta Nishimoto and could meet Momota in the quarter-finals. If Lee could advance to the semi-finals, he is likely to face Loh for a spot in the final.
Meanwhile, Loh Kean Yew achieved a new milestone in his career on Tuesday. The reigning World Champion has cracked the top-10 for the first time at World No. 9 in the latest world rankings published by BWF. He continued his fine run of form at the 2022 Badminton Asia Team Championships last week, leading the Singaporean team to win a historic bronze medal at the tournament.
