AN early poser awaits men's doubles defending champions Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong in the individual badminton competition.
South Koreans Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong, whom the Malaysians have not beaten in two previous meetings, are in their quarter of the draw.
If the match materialise, coach Rexy Mainaky is hoping for a reversal of fortunes for Kien Keat-Boon Heong.
"One pair cannot go on winning forever.
"There will be a day for a fall," he said.
"In fact, Kien Keat-Boon Heong have experienced the same fate. They enjoyed a good run against Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia, winning four consecutive times in two years but it ended at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
"This time, they have lost twice to the Koreans and if they meet again here in Guangzhou, I hope they will snap the losing streak."
The fast-attacking pair of Sung-hyun-Yeon-seong beat Kien Keat-Boon Heong at the Open tournaments in Switzerland and Singapore this year.
Top seeds Kien Keat-Boon Heong have a first-round bye.
The Malaysians will open their campaign against India's S. Arattu–kulam-R. Kallyad Thazhatheveetti.
The Koreans are expected to triumph over Japan's Hirokatsu Hashimoto-Noriyasu Hirata to get into the quarter-finals.
The other notable pairs in the top half of the draw are China's Guo Zhengdong-Xu Chen, Taiwan's Fang Chieh-min-Lee Sheng-mu and Indonesians Mohd Ahsan-Alven Yulianto.
In the other half with second seeds Markis-Hendra are world champions Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng of China, South Koreans Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung and Malaysia's Mak Hee Chun-Tan Wee Kiong.
The badminton programme begins tomorrow with the team event while individual competition will be held from Nov 16-21
Star
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