WORLD No 2 Lee Chong Wei faces a tricky passage in his bid to reach his first All England final while defending men's doubles champions Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong may also have to iron-out their opening round jitters to do well in Birmingham on March 4-9.

Chong Wei, who plays compatriot Sairul Amar Ayub in the first round, is expected to meet Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat in the quarter-finals.

On paper, Chong Wei is the favourite but the unpredictability of Taufik makes him a dangerous foe.

The fact that Taufik has never won the All England will make the battle even more exciting but the 2004 Olympics champion must first overcome an equally inconsistent but dangerous Ronald Susilo of Singapore in the first round.

Should Chong Wei clear the Taufik hurdle, his chances of making the final look good as he will meet either Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro or Chen Jin of China in the last four.

Top seed Lin Dan of China also has an easy passage until the semi-finals where he could meet either Korea Open champion Lee Hyun Il or Denmark's Peter Gade Christensen.

Lin Dan will be aiming for Hyun Il's scalp after the Korean triumphed over the former in a bitter final in Seoul last month.

Things don't look good for Hafiz Hashim as he is down to play third seed Bao Chunlai of China in the first round while Wong Choong Hann, who plays Przemyslaw Wacha of Poland, may find his run ended in the second round as he is likely to play Chen Jin.

In the men's doubles, Kien Keat-Boon Heong cannot afford to continue their first round wobbles as they will be up against Japan's Shuichi Sakamoto-Shintaro Ikeda.

Shuichi-Shintaro eliminated Kien Keat-Boon Heong in the quarter-finals of the World Championships last year.

If Kien Keat-Boon Heong survive, they are expected to meet Hendra Gunawan-Joko Riyadi in the second round and China's Guo Zhendong-Xie Zhongbo are their potential rivals in the last eight.

In the semi-finals, they are expected to take on top seeds Fu Haifeng-Cai Yun of China in a repeat of last year's final while world champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan are their potential final opponents.
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