Olympic badminton champ Chen Long spearheads China’s charge at Singapore Open

SINGAPORE - China badminton ace Chen Long will hope to finally triumph this year in the OUE Singapore Open when he makes his return.

The 28-year-old heads into the US$350,000 (S$496,313) tournament as the reigning men’s singles Olympic champion, having defeated Malaysian superstar Lee Chong Wei in the final last year in Brazil.

Chen, the current world No 5, will attempt to win Singapore’s most prestigious badminton tournament for the first time.

Part of the MetLife BWF (Badminton World Federation) World Superseries, the OUE Open is organised by the Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) and will be held from April 11 to 16 at the Indoor Stadium..

Seeded first at the last two editions, Chen only managed to reach the quarter-finals last year, following his second-round exit in 2015. He also suffered a second-round loss in 2011 and hopes his fortunes will improve this time.

“Everyone goes into a competition hoping to win and I am no different,” he said in a media release on Tuesday (Feb 14). “I want to do my best to thank the fans who have been supporting me… I also hope they will come (back) and support me in April.”

The confirmation of Chen’s participation comes a week after it was announced that fellow Olympic gold medallist, Carolina Marin of Spain, will also be participating at the OUE Open.

Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia and Ratchanon Intanon of Thailand will also be back to defend their men’s and women’s singles crowns respectively.

Chen, a two-time world champion in 2014 and 2015, will also spearhead a 23-strong team from China that features world champions and rising stars. These include 2015 OUE Open women’s singles winner Sun Yu and world No 1 mixed doubles pair Chen Qingchen and Zheng Siwei. Double Olympic gold-medallist Zhang Nan will return to defend the men’s doubles crown, though he will have a new partner in Liu Cheng.

It is not known whether Chen’s compatriot, Lin Dan, and Malaysian world No 1 Lee will participate as of yet, though there is still time as players have until February 28 to register their involvement.

Last year’s men’s singles runner-up Son Wan Ho and Olympic women’s doubles bronze pairing Jung Kyung Eun and Shin Seung Chan will form part of South Korea’s 16-strong team for the OUE Open.

The SBA is also yet to confirm the list of national players who will be involved. There was no Singaporean male in the singles main draw last year, while the women were represented by Liang Xiaoyu and Grace Chua.

Organisers are confident of more big names in the days to come, particularly with the confirmation of both Olympic champions, and believe the fans will flock to see the stars.

There will be 32 entries in the main draw for each category — men’s and women’s singles and doubles, and mixed doubles. Four of those slots will be available to qualifiers, with a maximum of 16 qualifiers per category.

Each singles champion will receive US$26,250 in prize money, while the respective doubles champions will get US$27,650.