(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-04 10:08

KUALA LUMPUR - Transparency was the key word when the 2007 World Badminton Championships draw was held for the first time in public in Kuala Lumpur on Friday evening.

Top seed Lin Dan of China, winner of the recent China Open where he beat Malaysia's Wong Choong Hann, is the early favorite to win the men's singles crown.

However, a host of other top players like Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia and Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia will also gunning to win the crown.

Chinese Bao Chunlai will have the bye, Chen Jin will face Portuguese Marco Vasconcelos, Chen Yu will play with Nea Zealander John Moody in the first round.

Women's singles top seed Zhang Ning and Xie Xingfang also have the bye in the first round, however, their Chinese teammate Zhu Lin will face Susan Hughes of Scotland and Lu Lan will play with Singaporean Xing Aiying.

Defending champions of men's doubles Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng from China have won three straight titles in a row and they will definitely start as favorites although Malaysian Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong will enjoy home advantage.

The top four seeds for women's doubles all from China, Zhang Yawen and Wei Yili, Gao Ling and Huang Sui, Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen, and Yu Yang and Du Jing, will have a rest in the first round.

Briton mixed doubles pair of Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson and Danish singles player Peter Gade-Christensen are among the top contenders from Europe seeking honors in their respective categories.

However, top seed for mixed doubles is still belong to Chinese players Zheng Bo and Gao Ling. They will have the bye in the first round with their teammate Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen, He Hanbin and Yu Yang.

Present at the draw ceremony were one of the Malaysia's most illustrious pairs, Razif and Jalani Sidek, who won a silver medal in the 1987 World Championships in Beijing where they lost to China's Tian Bingyi and Li Yongbo.

The event will be held at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur on August 13-19