China's Chen Long, Lin Dan seek break-through in Singapore Open

"The Singapore Open is hard to play," said world Number 1 Badminton player Chen Long and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan in a press conference ahead of the tournament on Tuesday.

The pair have competed and emerged victorious in several tournaments around the world, sharing a total of 81 individual titles between them but the Singapore Open title is one that has eluded China's Lin Dan and Chen Long thus far.

"I haven't been here for a couple of years and the Singapore Open is one of the hardest tournaments to play because of the draft," said Lin who last took part in the Singapore Open in 2011, where he finished the first runner-up.

"My best performance was the finals and I'm hoping to do better this time round and I look forward to badminton fans coming down to support Team China and Lin Dan," he added.

World Number 1 Chen will be looking to recover from the defeat to Lee Chong Wei in last week's Malaysia Open final.

Chen, like Lin, will be seeking his maiden Singapore Open title after falling short in his two previous attempts when he crashed out of the second round in both 2011 and 2015.

"This is my third time here and I have never entered the quarter finals before so I hope that I can enter this time round," said Chen.

Both Chen and Lin will kick off their competition Wednesday with Lin facing Ihsan Maulana Mustofa from Indonesia while Chen will battle India's H. S. Prannoy.

The Singapore Open will be held from April 12 to April 17.