The status of the Singapore Open (June 1-6) may hang in the balance, but the draw for the tournament has already been made with several eye-catching encounters involving Lee Zii Jia, Kento Momota and Tai Tzu-Ying.
All-England winner Lee is up against Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto in the opening round, and could face top seed Momota as early as the quarter-finals.
Momota has a tricky first round against Shi Yu Qi, who hasn’t featured on the international front in over a year due to China’s border restriction travel.
Liew Daren is the other Malaysian men's singles shuttler in Singapore, taking on home shuttler Loh Kean Yew.
Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen and Anders Antonsen are also slated for action with games against Kenta Nishimoto and Wang Tzu Wei respectively.
Malaysia are not represented in the women’s singles, but there are plenty of world-class names to make this an engaging affair nonetheless.
Top seed Tai is up against China’s He Bing Jiao, while P.V. Sindhu, Nozomi Okuhara, An Se-Young, Ratchanok Intanon and Carolina Marin will be in town to battle her for the title.
In the men’s doubles, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin play India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, while Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong are up against South Korea’s Choi Sol-gyu-Seo Seung-jae.
Goh-Tan are out of contention for the Tokyo Olympics but will aim to clinch a title after coming close to winning the Thailand Open 1 earlier this year.
In the women’s doubles, Swiss Open champions Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah take on South Koreans Chang Ye-Na-Kim Hye-rin, whom they outclassed at the Thailand Open 2 in January.
Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean, meanwhile, face Indonesia’s Greysia Polli-Apriyani Rahayu.
Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying have a tough opener against Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet among the pick of the mixed doubles’ ties.
As of now, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) have yet to announce any decision of the Singapore Open, which is the final event offering qualifying points to the Olympics.
The Malaysia Open was postponed last week due to the rise in COVID-19 cases in the country.