Home favourite Michelle Li is seeded first for this week's Badminton World Federation Canada Open in Calgary ©Getty Images

Home favourite Michelle Li is seeded first for this week's Badminton World Federation (BWF) Canada Open in Calgary as the three-time women's singles champion looks to banish the memories of a surprise opening-round exit last year.

Li, the winner of the event in 2014, 2015 and 2016, lost to Japan’s Yui Hashimoto at the first hurdle of the 2017 edition.

The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist will begin her quest for a fourth title against Vietnam’s Vu Thi Trang.

Seeded second is Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi, a beaten semi-finalist last year.

Her first-round opponent is Germany’s Luise Heim.

India's Sameer Verma is the top seed in the men's singles event ©Getty Images
India's Sameer Verma is the top seed in the men's singles event ©Getty Images

In the men’s singles event, India’s Sameer Verma is the top seed.

The 23-year-old has received a bye through to round two, where he will face the winner of the match between Canada’s Timothy Chiu and China’s Zhao Junpeng.

The Netherlands’ Mark Caljouw is the second seed and will begin his campaign in the second round against either Japan’s Hashiru Shimono or a qualifier.

Japanese players won last year’s men’s and women’s singles event, but neither Kanta Tsuneyama nor Saena Kawakami are due to be defending their titles.

Action is due to take place at the Markin MacPhail Centre from tomorrow through to Sunday (June 24).