Easy assignments for 'Super Dan,' rival Lee in London prelims

Jul 24, 2012

Four-time world champion and Beijing Olympics gold medalist Lin Dan is still the top favorite in London but Lee Chong Wei, Chen Long and Chen Jin are looking to steal the show. london2012

LONDON -- Reigning Olympic champion Lin Dan of China has been drawn to play unseeded Scott Evans of Ireland for his first match in the London 2012 badminton tournament.

Action begins at Wembley Arena on Saturday, with world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia battling Ville Lang of Finland.

Former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia was placed in a three-man group with Pablo Abian of Spain and Petr Koukal of the Czech Republic.

Denmark’s former world No. 1 Peter Gade plays Pedro Martins of Portugal in the preliminaries.

Third seed Chen Long, also from China, will play Singapore Open champion Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand and another top Chinese player, No. 4 Chen Jin, will take on Poland’s Przemyslaw Wacha.

The 16 group winners in the singles advance to the knockout stage. Groups have either two or three players, depending on the players’ seeding. The draw was held at the Main Press Centre in the Olympic Park on Monday.

Women’s top seed Wang Yihan of China takes on unseeded Canadian Michelle Li and No. 2 Wang Xin of China battles Wang Rena of the US.