KUALA LUMPUR: All eyes will be on Lee Zii Jia when he starts his campaign at the Paris Olympics.
The good news is the world No. 7 will not have to battle reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen until the final.
In the draw ceremony in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, world No. 7 Zii Jia was placed in Group G with Sri Lanka's Viren Nettasinghe and Spain's Pablo Abian.
While the Malaysian is expected to breeze past his opponents to top the group, he will face a tricky last-16 encounter with world No. 9 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia or Toma Junior Popov of France from Group H.
Anthony is the favourite in Group H but faces a potential threat in Popov, who defeated Axelsen of Denmark at the European Championships this year.
The Frenchman reached the final before losing to Dane Anders Antonsen, who is in Group E with Ade Resky Dwicahyo of Azerbaijan and Collins Valentine Filimon of Austria.
The winner of Group E will receive a last-16 bye and advance to the quarter-finals.
Zii Jia, who is growing in confidence after winning the Thailand Open and Australia Open this year, is drawn to face world No. 4 Antonsen in the quarter-finals.
Antonsen has beaten Zii Jia five times in eight encounters, with the latter winning their last encounter at the Malaysia Masters in May.
If the former All England champion beats Antonsen, he could face either reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand, Kenta Nishimoto of Japan, or world No. 1 Shi Yuqi of China in the semi-finals.
This will be Zii Jia's second Olympic appearance after his last-16 exit to eventual silver medallist Chen Long at Tokyo 2020.
In the women's singles, independent shuttler Goh Jin Wei is in Group H with world No. 17 Kim Ga Eun of South Korea and Johanita Scholtz of South Africa.
While the world No. 33 Malaysian is expected to beat the South African shuttler, she will need to pull off something special to beat Ga Eun to top the group and advance to the last 16.
Meanwhile, women's doubles Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah face a tough group campaign.
The world No. 13 Malaysians are in Group A with world No. 1 Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China, world No. 6 Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara of Japan, and No. 9 Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia.
Only the top two pairs from each group will reach the quarter-finals, and Pearly-Thinaah will need something special to go beyond their group.
Meanwhile, mixed doubles Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei were drawn in Group D with China's Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping, Singapore's Hee Yong Kai Terry-Jessica Tan and Vinson Chiu-Jennie Gai of the United States. The Malaysians should fancy their chances of reaching the quarter-finals.
