The badminton world is eagerly awaiting the start of the new Super Series season, which will kick off in just over a week with the Malaysian Open Super Series and, as last year, the draw was very tough on the Malaysians with top players facing each other as early as the first round.

Tarek Hafi, Badzine Correspondent. Photos : Badmintonphoto (archives)

The men's singles event faces a major absence as the world number one, Lin Dan, withdrew from the tournament. Therefore, all Malaysians will likely have their hopes up for Lee Chong Wei, who has been promoted to the number one seed. However, he will have to meet compatriot Hafiz Hashim in the very first round. Lee Chong Wei (photo) should meet Indonesia’s idol, Taufik Hidayat in the quarter-final for one of the highlights of the tournament. Another disappointment for the local crowd will be that several other Malaysian players will have to meet each other as Sairul Amar Ayob and Roslin Hashim are going to fight for a spot in the second round.

Indonesian players must also feel as if this draw is punishing them as all their participants to the main draw will certainly meet some problems from the very first round as Sony Dwi Kuncoro is set to meet Lee Hyun Il from Korea, former world number one, followed by Taufik Hidayat facing Park Sung Hwan and finally Simon Santoso against Thailand's talent Boonsak Ponsana.

No Lady Luck Either for the Home Team

Malaysia's lack of luck of the draw extended to the women's singles as the only two players present in the main draw, Wong Mew Choo and Julia Wong, are set to meet in the first round. Moreover Wong Mew Choo will have to be careful as she is set to meet Xie Xingfang in quarter-final, and the top Chinese will desperately want to avenge her defeat in the China Open final. The top seed Xie will have to go through two tough first rounds in order to reach the-quarter final.

Tine Rasmussen, too, will get the chance to make up for her home court loss in the Copenhagen Masters against Xu Huaiwen. The two will face each other in the first round in Kuala Lumpur.

Koo and Tan up to defend their title.

Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong (photo) will have more pressure on their shoulders as the defending champions are among the highest hopes for the title in Kuala Lumpur. They will first meet, Joko Riyadi and Hendra Aprida Gunawan, a most unlucky pair with a penchant for drawing seeded players early in all Super Series events. Koo and Tan are sure to meet their compatriots Lee Wan Wah and Choong Tan Fook in the quarter-finals even though Lee Wan Wah is still recovering from his knee injury.

French Open winners Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa will have to fight in order to reach the mixed doubles quarter-finals as they will meet Danish outsiders Britta Andersen and Joachim Fischer Nielsen, to set up a possible second round match against Koreans Han Hoon Sang and Hwang Yu Mi and finally a quarter-final against Thai number one Sudket and Saralee. Their compatriots Mohd Rijal and Greysia Polii are back together after a long time and will play England's Lindley and Rayappan.

The women's doubles event could be the last tournament for Gao Ling as Li Yongbo ordered her to concentrate on mixed doubles only, after Huang Sui's retirement; however, Gao and Zhao Tingting are facing their compatriots and number one seeds Zhang Yawen and Wei Yili in the first round.

Therefore there will be more chances to other countries to reach semi-finals, as there will be from the second round onward, only three Chinese pairs in the main draw.

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