Lee Chong Wei to skip the French Open

This week produced some bad news for the French fans who have become accustomed to seeing the very best players as part of the annual Yonex Internationaux de France. On October 5th, the French Federation received the withdrawal of top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia. Taufik Hidayat, Lin Dan, Chen Jin and Chen Long will be amongst the other big names missing while Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei will be the sole Olympic gold medallists to enter the event, which will be held from October 23rd to 28th. There will be, however, plenty to cheer about for the home crowd, who will get to say goodbye to two of their favourite players: Pi Hongyan, who is officially retiring, and Peter Gade, who will make a very last appearance in the Pierre de Coubertin Stadium.

Here are the entry seedings for the event