Gold Coast: Malaysian badminton superstar Lee Chong Wei who was seeded second in the men’s singles event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, could face No. 1 seed Kidambi Srikanth of India in the final.
Lee, who stamped himself as a legitimate chance to become the first player to win three Commonwealth Wealth gold in the men’s singles event, received a bye in the first round and will play winner between Chongo Mulenga of Zambia and Benjamin Li from Isle of Man (the Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland) in the second round. Lee is expected to face Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the quarter final, before taking on H.S Prannoy of India in the semi-finals. Just a reminder, Prannoy has recorded a 2-2 career meeting records against Lee by winning the last two encounters both at the 2017 Indonesia Open and 2017 Denmark Open.
In addition to Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong, who will likely play Marcus Ellis/Chris Langridge of England in the men’s doubles semi-final, two mixed doubles specialists from Malaysia – Chan Peng Soon/Goh Soon Huat have also formed a scratch pair to compete in the men’s doubles event. Chan/Goh face a stern test in the opener where they will need to battle Chris Adcock/Ben Lane of England. If they can make it to the quarter-finals, they will face No. 2 seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty of India for a spot in the last four.
In women’s competition, Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah has been drawn to play Grace Chua Hui Zhen of Singapore in round of 16 and will play the reigning women’s singles gold medalist Michelle Li of Canada if she could make the quarter-finals.
Malaysia’s newly-paired Vivian Hoo/Chow Mei Kuan who advanced to the Vietnam International Challenge women’s doubles final last week, could possibly meet No. 4 seeds Chloe Birch-Jessica Pugh from England in the quarter finals.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jamie Lai and Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying have been drawn in opposite halves and have high chance of setting up an all-Malaysian final in the mixed doubles event.
The Commonwealth Wealth mixed team event will take place from April 4th to April 9th, while the individual events will start from April 10th to April 15th.
