Petaling Jaya
Lee Chong Wei has a mountain to climb in his bid to reclaim the Malaysian Open victory for his 12th crown.
In the draw released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday, the seventh seeded Chong Wei has been drawn alongside world No.1 Viktor Axelsen and Chinese arch-rivals Lin Dan, the defending champion and Chen Long, the 2015 winner, in the same half of the draw.
The US$700,000 (RM2.78mil) tournament will be held at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil from June 26-July 1.
Chong Wei should have no problem clearing his first hurdle against Kazumasa Sakai of Japan and is expected to face either Thailand’s Suppanyu Avihingsanon and South Korean veteran Lee Hyun-il in the second round.
A mouth watering quarter-final clash pitting Chong Wei and Axelsen on the cards in what is a rematch of the recent Thomas Cup in Bangkok.
Chong Wei will surely look to beat Axelsen for a second time having outclassed the latter 21-9, 21-19 in the first singles encounter during Malaysia 3-2 defeat Denmark in the group stage.
Even if he does power past Axelsen, the challenge is far from over with Chen Long and Lin Dan — the men who shattered his Olympic gold dream for a combined three times — possibly standing in his way in the last four.
While Chong Wei has last scored a win over Chen Long to win the Hong Kong Open last November, Lin Dan remains to be a tough nut to crack.
Chong Wei was beaten in all last three encounters with the latest at the All England final quarter-finals in March.
Chong Wei was also denied from winning 12th title by Lin Dan in last year’s final.
If all goes well, Chong Wei could set up a dream final against Japan’s Kento Momota, who’s seen as the strongest contender in the bottom half of the draw which also features South Korea’s Son Wan-ho, India’s K. Srikanth and Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen.
Momota, who led Japan to finishing runner-up to China in the Thomas Cup recently, is on a 17-match unbeaten streak dating back to March when he won the Vietnam International Challenge.
