Kunlavut faces Lin hurdle in round one
Thai teeanger Kunlavut Vitidsarn will face Chinese legend Lin Dan in the opening round of the All England Open in Birmingham today.
Lin, one of the greatest badminton players of all time, has won five world titles, while Kunlavut is the three-time defending world junior champion.
The Chinese, who at 36 is 18 years older than his opponent, sealed a 2-1 win over Kunlavut in Thailand in their only previous meeting last year.
Two-time Olympic gold medallist Lin has won the All England title six times and this could be his last Birmingham appearance.
Interestingly, the winner of today’s match could meet reigning Olympic champion Chen Long, another Chinese veteran, who takes on India’s Kidambi Srikanth in the first round of the men’s singles.
In the women’s singles, Thailand’s top shuttler Ratchanok Intanon will begin her campaign against Malaysia’s Sonia Cheah.
The fifth seed Thai, who has lost in the All England final twice, should have few problems against the unseeded Malaysian.
The winner will meet either Aya Ohori of Japan or Kim Ga-Eun of South Korea in the second round.
In the quarter-finals, 2013 world champion Ratchanok, who beat Spain’s Carolina Marin in the Indonesia Masters final in January, could face top seed Chen Yufei of China.
Chen could meet Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the second round.
Busanan takes on Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark in her opening match.
Pornpawee Chorchuwong faces Han Yue of China and the winner could meet seventh seed He Bingjiao, another Chinese star, in the second round.
Pornpawee is in the same half with Marin who she beat in the Spain Masters decider last month.
Also, 2016 winner Nozomi Okuhara of Japan takes on Canada’s Michelle Li.
In the mixed doubles, third seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai are up against France’s Ronan Labar and Anne Tran in the opening round.