The Japanese capital boasts happy memories for both players after their success at Tokyo 2020, although the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium set to be used for the World Championships from tomorrow is different to Musashino Forest Sport Plaza which was the scene of their Olympic triumphs.

Axelsen is the favourite to reclaim his men's singles world title that he won for the first and to date only time in Glasgow in 2017.

The world number one is on a 31-match winning streak, although he suffered a first round exit at the World Championships in Huelva last December to the eventual winner Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.

His first round match against Malaysia's Liew Daren is due to be held tomorrow.

Home favourite Kento Momota, a two-time world champion, is seeded second but has endured a difficult season on the BWF World Tour, losing in the first round in four of his seven singles tournaments.

He starts against Mexico's Lino Muñoz.

Defending champion Loh has had mixed results since taking gold in Huelva last year, and the eighth seed has been drawn against Spain's Pablo Abián in the first round.

In the women's singles, the host nation harbour hopes of success through top seed and defending champion Akane Yamaguchi, who has a bye through the first round and is set to take on the winner of the tie between Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour and Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the second.

Yamaguchi suffered a quarter-final defeat to India's PV Sindhu at Tokyo 2020.

However, the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist and 2019 world champion has withdrawn due to a stress fracture.

Sindhu took gold at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, but posted on Twitter that she "felt pain and there was an injury scare at the quarter-finals."

Sixth seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan, winner at the World Championships in 2017 and runner-up in 2019, has also pulled out due to a stress fracture.

Olympic champion Chen is seeded fourth and starts against either Malaysia's Soniia Cheah Su Ya or Indonesia's Putri Kusuma Wardani in the second round, while Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei is the second seed.

Tai lost the Olympic and World Championships final last year, but has won three events on the BWF World Tour this season.

She begins her tournament against the winner of the match between Slovakia's Martina Repiská and Ukraine's Marija Ulitina.

Men's, women's, and mixed doubles competitions are also due to be held in Tokyo, with the World Championships set to run until Sunday (August 28).