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The top two doubles pairs in the world have withdrawn from the Maybank Malaysia Open presented by Proton after aggravating injuries at last week’s Korea Open.

However, even without Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng and Jung Jae Jung-Lee Yong Dae, this year’s Malaysia Open still boasts of an incredible cast.

The Chinese and South Korean pairs’ decision to withdraw is also a perfect opportunity for Malaysia’s Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong to win their third Malaysia Open following wins in 2007 and 2010.

Other Malaysian pairs such as KLRC’s Gan Teik Chai-Tan Bin Shen and Zakry Abdul Latif-Fairuzizuan Tazari also stand to benefit as they seek valuable ranking points for the Olympics.

The Malaysia Open is the second of the 12-leg OSIM BWF World Superseries and offers US$400,000 in prize money.

The main attraction will be the battle in the men’s singles where the home fans will hope to see Lee Chong Wei equalling Wong Peng Soon’s long standing record of men’s singles titles.

Chong Wei started the year with a bang when he defeated archrival Lin Dan in the final in Seoul on Sunday and goes into the tournament having never lost to Lin Dan at the Malaysia Open.

Lin Dan may have becomes the first player to win the Super Grand Slam – world, Olympics, Asian Games, Badminton Asia Championships and All England titles as well as the Sudirman and Thomas Cup and Superseries Finals gold medals – but he has yet to win the Malaysia Open.

As such, we can expect the fired up Chinese superstar to be at his very best in Kuala Lumpur.