FUZHOU, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's Olympic-winning shuttlers Lin Dan and Chen Long will meet in the first round of the Fuzhou China Open 2019 as the five-day competition kicks off here on Tuesday.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) super 750 tournament has more than 250 elite athletes from 23 countries and regions to compete in five disciplines, wich includes Lin Dan, Chen Long and Shi Yuqi from China, Kento Momota of Japan and women's singles world No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.
Lin, a two-time Olympic gold medal winner and five-time world champion, still dreams about his fifth Olympic journey and will challenge his compatriot Chen in the eye-catching first round duel. The 36-year-old Super Dan was beaten by the Rio Olympic champion 21-15, 21-16 in their last meeting at French Open last month.
The men's singles first round will also see another Chinese derby between Lu Guangzu and Huang Yuxiang, while third seeded Shi, who just came back from ankle injury and won a silver in Macao Open last Sunday, will take on Son Wan Ho of South Korea.
In women's singles, Tai Tzu Ying will face newly-crowned China Open winner Carolina Marin, while the defending champion Chen Yufei of China will fight against Russian shuttler Evgeniya Kosetskaya in the opening match.
"Many of the athletes just finished the French Open, and are still influenced by the jet-lag. We will try all best in the high level badminton competition," said Tai.
Besides, the Chinese duos, including Li Huijun/Liu Yuchen in men's doubles, Du Yue/Li Yinhui in women's doubles, and Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong in mixed doubles, will field on Tuesday.
