YONEX All England Championship: 2024 draw made
Defending YONEX All England Championship men’s singles champion Li Shifeng will start the defence of his crown against Frenchman Toma Popov in Birmingham.
The 24-year-old, whose success last year was his first at Super 1000 level, is seeded third, one place behind compatriot Shi Yuqi, who he beat in the 2023 final.
Shi starts against Rasmus Gemke in Round 1, with Gemke’s fellow Dane and top seed Viktor Axelsen beginning his bid for a third men’s singles crown at this event against India’s Kidambi Srikanth.
The women’s singles draw sees reigning champion and top seed An Se-young open up against Hsu Wen-chi, of Chinese Taipei.
Olympic champion Chen Yufei, runner-up 12 months ago, kicks off against Vietnam’s Nguyen Thuy Linh while three-time winner Tai Tzu-ying faces Nozomi Okuhara.
There is no English representation in either singles draw but Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour will take on Pornpawee Chochuwong as she bids to give the British crowd something to cheer.
Indian pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, runners-up at both the Malaysia Open and India Open so far in 2024, are top seeds in the men’s doubles draw as they bid to lift this trophy for the first time.
2019 champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan are their opponents in a tantalising first round clash while reigning champions Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, seeded seventh, face Lee Fang-chih and Lee Fang-jen.
Home favourites Ben Lane and Sean Vendy play Japanese sixth seeds Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi and there is an all-English clash set to get pulses racing in the mixed doubles draw as Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith face Greg and Jenny Mairs.
Top seeds and defending champions Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong play Vinson Chiu and Jennie Gai while Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino, winners in 2021 and 2022, have been drawn to face Kyohei Yamashita and Naru Shinoya.
Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong triumphed as sixth seeds in the women’s doubles last year and are third seeds this time around, when they will begin against Luo Xumin and Li Yijing.
Top seeds Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan are hoping to last the Birmingham pace for the first time since 2019 and their first obstacle comes in the form of Hsu Ya Ching and Lin Wan Ching.
To see the full draw across all five disciplines, click here.
To buy tickets for the 2024 YONEX All England Championship, click here.
