Top seeds take on former champions on Day 2
Top seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Setty will meet former champions in the men’s doubles on day two of the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships.
No.1 seeds Rankireddy and Shetty of India will meet Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in one of the picks of the second day.
Ahsan and Setiawan lost to their compatriots Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the 2023 final having won the title themselves in 2019.
The duo will play ninth on Minoru Yoneyama Court, while the defending champions Alfian and Ardianto close out the day on Court 4.
Another player defending their title is An Se Young of South Korea, the No.1 seed will go fourth on Court 4 up against Hsu Wen Chi of Chinese Taipei.
The two met in the first round of last year’s competition as An went on to win her first All England title having finished runner-up in 2022.
That year, she lost out to Akane Yamaguchi of Japan who this year will take on Zhang Yi Man of China on Court 3.
The two-time world champion has made the final in Birmingham twice, winning once, and begins her campaign against the world No. 17.
Women’s doubles title holders Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong play Li Yi Jing and Luo Xu Min of China as one of 10 seeds in action on Minoru Yoneyama Court.
British interest will be piqued by Ben Lane and Sean Vendy’s rematch with Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi who they met in 2022.
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The English pair are fifth on Minoru Yoneyama Court in a bumper day at the Utilita Arena.
Former men’s singles champion Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia faces a tough test as he looks for a second title after being drawn against sixth seed Kodai Naraoaka of Japan with their match second on Court 12Bet.
Also on that court, will be three-time mixed doubles champion Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino and they face their Japanese teammates Kyohei Yamashite and Naru Shinoya.
Be part of All The Action at the All England. Tickets are still available at allenglandbadminton.com. Can’t be in Birmingham this week? You can still see badminton’s most prestigious tournament play out on BBC Sport and TNT Sports. Don’t miss a minute!
