The path of progressing further in the World Championship has now become even smoother for star shuttler Lee Chong Wei, which saw the latest draw placed him away from all the main players.
Based on the draw released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), Chong Wei will avoid all three top stars, notably China’s Chen Long and Lin Dan, and Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen.
After left frustrated in previous tournaments, this draw gives a much needed break for Chong Wei, who needs to collect points in order to increase his qualification chances to take part in Rio Olympics 2016.
The unseeded Chong Wei is placed with third seed K. Srikanth of India, eight seed Wang Zhengming of China, 12th seed Marc Zwiebler of Germany, Hu Yan of Hong Kong and Kenichi Tago of Japan.
Even Kenny Goh, the General Manager of Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), sees the golden opportunity for Chong Wei.
“He has the chance to collect points in the earlier rounds because if he goes through, the probabilities of him facing Lin Dan in the semis and Chen Long in the final are quite high.”
On the other hand, Malaysia’s only men doubles representatives, Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong are set to face a big hurdle as they prepare to meet defending champions Ko Sung-hyun-Shin Baek-cheol of South Korea in the second round.
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