LEE Zii Jia has a chance to record his second career win over reigning Olympic champion Chen Long when they face off in the opening round of the Denmark Open, which starts tomorrow, in Odense.
The Malaysian will take on the 2016 Rio Olympic champion in a crunch match on Wednesday.
Zii Jia defeated the World No 5 at the Indonesia Open in July before the China ace exacted revenge in their second meeting of the season at the China Open last month.
“I am eager to play Chen Long again and I hope to get my revenge after the defeat in China. It will be tough but I will try to do my best to beat the reigning Olympic champion,” said Zii Jia.
The World No 15, who is Malaysia’s top-ranked men’s singles player, has a chance of winning again as Chen Long’s form has been erratic and has not won a BWF World Tour event so far this year.
Should Zii Jia overcome Chen Long, the Malaysian will face either Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama or India’s Sameer Verma for a quarter-final spot on Thursday.
A good run will boost Zii Jia’s chances of qualifying for the World Tour Finals in Guangzhou in December. He is currently ranked seventh on the Race to Guangzhou list. Only the top-eight players will qualify for the season-ending event.
In the men’s doubles, Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong will open against three-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia on Wednesday with the winner taking on Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik or Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi in the second round.
In the mixed doubles, fourth seeds Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying will face Japan’s Kohei Gondo-Ayane Kurihara in the first round while compatriots Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing have been drawn against South Korea’s Seung Jae-Yu Jung.
World No 10 Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie will open against Irish pair Sam Magee-Chloe Magee.
In the women’s doubles, Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean will play France’s Delphine Delrue-Lea Palermo while Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen take on Indonesia’s fifth seeds Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu.