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Ben Lane is heading into his home tournament full of confidence despite being handed a tricky first-round meeting with the world number one pairing.

The 28-year-old and his men’s doubles partner Sean Vendy will face defending champions Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae in Birmingham on Tuesday.

The pairs met in the semi-finals of the Petronas Malaysia Open this year, Lane and Vendy’s first appearance at the last-four stage of a Super 1000, losing 8-21 21-11 21-18.

“I think we know that we are capable of beating these pairs,” the Exmouth native said. “We have not beaten the Koreans before, we have only played them twice, so we are going into the match confident, knowing that if we play well, we can beat them.

“But we have to take lots of learnings from the match that we played at the start of the year, watch the first set back and try and figure out a way of keeping it up for two sets.

“In order to go deep in the tournament, we have to beat these players, regardless of whether it is the first round or the semi-final.

“We just have to take it point-by-point and put in a good performance.”

Lane and Vendy have never made it past the second round of the YONEX All England and have been handed a tough draw in the Round of 32 this year.

However, Lane believes there is a greater expectation on the defending champions than on the home hopes.

He added: “They’ve got a lot of pressure on them, they are world number ones, everyone expects them to win, and they are defending champions, so there is obviously a lot of pressure on them.

“But there is pressure on us because we are playing in England, and you want to do well. That is natural, I guess, it doesn’t matter who you face when you are playing in this tournament.”

Lane and Vendy are the only British players in action on Tuesday, with the first round split between two days.

Mixed doubles pair Callum Hemming and Estelle Van Leeuwen kick off their mixed doubles campaign on Wednesday against Malaysian pairing Goh Soon Huat and Lai Shevon Jemie. Meanwhile, Alexander Dunn and Julie Macpherson are in an all-European first-round match against Denmark’s Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund.

This is the one they all want to win. This is the YONEX All England. Secure your seats today: YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships Tickets - 2026 Schedule & Dates - AXS UK