Fifth seed Chen Long takes on unseeded Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in the Men's singles second round of All England Championships 2017 at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham on Thursday.
The reigning Olympic champion seems to have put the disappointment of crashing out in the semi-final of last week's German Open, which was also his first tournament of 2017, well behind him as he decimated first-round opponent Marc Zwiebler of Germany in just 43 minutes 21-17, 21-7 yesterday.
While both his fierce rivals Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan not in the best of forms in what might be their last appearance in Birmingham, Chen has a good chance to assert his dominance once again.
The two-time winner is likely to face the Malaysian legend in the semi-final if both of them make the progress and Tanongsak is unlikely to be a hurdle as Chen holds a massive 11-0 head-to-head advantage over the Thailand shuttler with their last meeting coming at the 2016 Bonny China Masters.
Tanongsak, who began the year with a title-winning performance at India's Premier Badminton League, stumbled at the Grand Prix Gold tournament at home - Thailand Masters - as he lost the quarter-final to Malaysian teenager Zii Jia Lee in straight games. The world number 12 though has started his campaign in Birmingham on a bright note by demolishing Danish shuttler Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 21-15, 21-18 yesterday.
TV Schedule
Malaysia: AStro Supersport
China: LETV, GDTV
Taiwan: Sportcast
Thailand: True visions
Indonesia: Fox Sports
India: Star Sports
Australia: Fox Sports
Dubai: Dubai SPorts Channel
UK: BBC
Hong Kong: iCable, PCCW
US: One World Sport
Denmark: TV2
