Tokyo 2020 badminton: Reigning champion Chen avoids early encounter with Momota, Axelsen

Chen Long of China greets the audience after beating Lin Dan of China during the men's singles second round match at All England Open Badminton Championships 2020 in Birmingham, Britain on March 12, 2020. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)

Reigning champion Chen Long has avoided an early encounter with world No. 1 shuttler Kento Momota and Viktor Axelsen at Tokyo 2020.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Reigning Olympic champion Chen Long of China avoided an early encounter with world No. 1 Kento Momota of Japan and Viktor Axelsen of Denmark after being drawn in the bottom half of badminton men's singles for Tokyo 2020 on Thursday.

But the Chinese veteran has to face All England champion Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia, who is widely seen as a potential dark horse in Tokyo, in the first knockout round, according to the draw conducted at the National Badminton Center in Milton Keynes, England.

Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia returns a shot during the men's singles quarterfinal match with China's Chen Long at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, Britain, on March 13, 2020. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)

Chen's teammate Shi Yuqi will be in the same quarter with Olympic bronze medalist Axelsen, Asian Games gold medalist Jonatan Christie, as the three will vie for a slot to challenge home favorite Momota in the semifinals.

Kento Momota of Japan hits a return during the men's singles final match against Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia at the BWF World Tour Finals 2019 in Guangzhou, China, Dec. 15, 2019. (Xinhua/Lu Hanxin)

In the women's singles, top seed Chen Yufei of China and her teammate He Bingjiao will be in the upper half. He needs to defeat the third seed Nozomi Okuhara to secure an all-Chinese semifinal.

The men's doubles top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo find themselves in a tricky group with Chinese Taipei's Wang Chi-Lin/Lee Yang, Britain's Ben Lane/Sean Vendy and India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty.

Wang/Lee swept the Asian Leg of tournaments in January, winning three titles in three weeks, while the other two pairs, Lane/Vendy and Rankireddy/Shetty, also have had some good results in recent times.

In the women's doubles, Asian Games champions Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan found themselves in a competitive group with recent Thailand Open winners Kim So-yeong/Kong Hee-yong, Thailand's Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai and Bulgaria's Stefani Stoeva/Gabriela Stoeva.

Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong (front) of China compete during the mixed doubles semifinal against Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino of Japan at the BWF World Tour Finals 2019 in Guangzhou, China, Dec. 14, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Chen)

In the mixed doubles, the top two seeds Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong and Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping provide the best hope to deliver a gold medal for China.