Manota and Chen out to defend singles titles at Oceania Badminton Championships

Wendy Chen Hsuan-yu will bid for a fifth straight women's singles title at the Oceania Badminton Championships in Melbourne ©Getty Images

Top seeds Abhinav Manota of New Zealand and Australia's Wendy Chen Hsuan-yu will aim to retain their men's and women's singles titles when the Oceania Badminton Championships take place in Melbourne this week.

The tournament, which also includes the junior event, is due to get underway tomorrow and concludes on Thursday (February 14) at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre.

The Taiwanese-born Chen will hope to continue her dominance at the continental event as she seeks a fifth straight title.

The 25-year-old first claimed the gold medal in 2015 and has defended her title at every tournament since.

All of the top three seeds in the women's draw are from Australia as Louisa Ma and Jennifer Tam second and third respectively.

Sally Fu, the sole competitor from New Zealand, is seeded fourth.

The players are starting to arrive in the City of Melbourne! ?? #VOC2019

Many of the players are even travelling abroad for the first time to compete in the VICTOR Oceania Badminton Championships 2019!

Be sure... https://t.co/M8RIhrOGw4
— Badminton Oceania (@BadOceania) February 9, 2019

Chen has been given a bye in the first round and is scheduled to take on either Fiji's Andra Whiteside or Australia's Chloe Lee in her opening encounter.

Manota, the world number 123, is out to clinch his second consecutive Oceania title.

The Indian-born player will also sit out the first round before facing either Australia's Kai Chen Teoh or Aukuso Samuelu Sue of Samoa.

Australia’s Daniel Fan is seeded to go up against Manota in the gold medal match, with compatriot Pit Seng Low seeded third.

Remi Rossi of Tahiti, who lost the 2018 final to Manota, begins as fifth seed.