A total of 160 players will set alight the Axiata Arena at the end of this month as they chase for glory in the Celcom Axiata Malaysian Open 2020 (CAMO2020).
This year’s eagerly anticipated Celcom Axiata Malaysia Open will be held on 31 March to 5 April 2020.
Following the official draw this afternoon, the challenge will be even among the favourites to lift the title in the Super 750 under the Badminton World Federation (BWF) calendar which offers a total purse of USD 750,000.
In the men’s singles event, defending champion Lin Dan of China will be down to not only defend his crown but also will be in the chase to complete titles.
The winner of the 2008 Beijing and London 2012 Olympic gold medals will start his campaign against Khopsit Phetpradab of Thailand.
Chou Tien Chien, who is the tournament’s top seed, will face South Korea’s Son Wan Ho while Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting will do battle against Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei.
This year’ Celcom Axiata Malaysia Open will see two Danish players confirming their places and they are Anders Antonsen and Malaysian Masters 2020 runners-up Viktor Axelsen who have been seeded third and fourth respectively.
Malaysia’s lone shuttler in the men’s singles Lee Zii Jia has been drawn to take on sixth-seeded Indonesian, Jonathan Christie in the first round.
The women’s singles competition will see two of the world’s top players, Chen Yu Fei (China) and Tai Tzu Ying taking to the court at the Axiata Arena.
Yu Fei and Tzu Ying, seeded first and second respectively, were in the final of the Malaysian Masters in January, and will surely be the focus of the other 30 players in their quest for the title.
Yu Fei will start her campaign against Evgeniya Kosetskaya (Russia) while Tzu Ying will be up against Malaysia’s very own Soniia Cheah.
Japan’s third-seeded Akane Yamaguchi will face Indonesia’s Fitriani Fitriani while compatriot Nozomu Okuhara who has been seeeded fourth, will take on Kim Ga Eun (South Korea).
In the men’s doubles, 2017 champions Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukalmujo will be setting their sights on winning a second title at this year’s Celcom Axiata Malaysia Open 2020.
However, the world’s No. 1 pair will be up against tough oppositions especially from compatriots Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan who are also chasing a second trophy.
The two Indonesian pairs will provide the obstacles for defending champions Li Jun Hui-Liu Yu Chen of China who will start their first round battle against Malaysia’s professional duo of Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong.
In addition to V Shem-Wee Kiong, Malaysia will also have Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yii, and eighth seed Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in the hunt for the title this year.
Also in the fray are Japan’s Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda and Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe who have been seeded fourth and sixth respectively.
Defending champions in the mixed doubles, China’s Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan will also be out to defend the title they won last year and where they will start their campaign in the first round against South Korea’s Baek Ha Na-Jung Kyung Eun.
Second seed Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara of Japan has drawn Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Ya Ching-Hu Ling Fang in the first round.
For Malaysia, they will have three representatives waving the flag and they are Vivian Hoo-Yap Weng Chen, Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean and youngsters, Pearly Tan-M Thinaah.
In the mixed doubles, Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong of China will be out to create history as they look to be the first ever duo to complete a hattrick of titles after getting on to the podium in the past two editions.
Zheng and Huang will start their Celcom Axiata Malaysia Open campaign against Malaysia’s Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing in the first round.
Another Malaysian pair, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie, will start their first round against Indonesia’s eighth seed Hafiz Faizal-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.
Malaysia ‘s professional pair of Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying, seeded sixth will take on Mathias Christiansen-Alexandra Bøje of Denmark.
