Lee Zii Jia has been handed a World Championships opening round draw against South Korea’s Jeon Hyeok-jin, an opponent which he can be optimistic about beating.

The world meet kicks off from August 25-31 in Paris. 

While most of the top Malaysian doubles pairs received a bye into the next round, Lee starts his campaign from the first round.

He faces an opponent who has not impressed on the World Tour this year.

In his nine outings on the World Tour this year, Jeon reached two quarter-finals as his best result.

In both of those quarter-finals in Thailand, he lost tamely against Jason Teh at the Thailand Masters and against Anders Antonsen at the Thailand Open.

Lee, who is now world number 52, also has a 3-1 win record against his world number 38 opponent.

The Malaysian, however, is lacking in competition action having only featured in two competitions this year, with his last outing coming at the All-England in March.

With that in mind, Lee should not take anything for granted against Jeon. But, he can be confident of his chances to advance to the second round given the form of his opponent.

Leong Jun Hao, meanwhile, is set to face Switzerland’s Tobias Kuenzi in the first round.