KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — National number one men’s singles shuttler, Lee Zii Jia has been handed a tough draw in the upcoming Celcom Axiata Malaysian Open Badminton Tournament which will be held at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil here from March 31 to April 5.
Based on today’s draw held at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) office here, the world number 13 will take on world number six, Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the first round.
Defending champion and two-time Olympic champion, Lin Dan of China, will kick-off his title defence against Thailand’s rising star, Khopsit Phetpradab, while the top seed, Chou Tien Chien of Taiwan who is world number three, will square-off against Son Wan Ho of South Korea.
Malaysian professional men’s doubles pair, Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong will facing a tricky opening round match against defending champions, Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen of China.
In the women’s singles category, national number one player, Soniia Cheah is facing a mammoth task against defending champion and world number two, Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan.
National mixed doubles pair, Tan Kiang Meng and Lai Pei Jing will kick-off their campaign against two-time champions, Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong of China who will be out to create history as the first ever duo to complete a hattrick of titles.
Their teammates, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie will face a tricky opening round match against the eighth seeds, Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja of Indonesia, while national professional pair, sixth seeded Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying will play against unheralded Danish pair, Mathias Christiansen-Alexandra Boje.
The tournament which is a BWF World Tour Super 750, offers a total prize money of US$750,000 (RM3.2 million). — Bernama
