DUBAI: Current Badminton world champion Chen Long of China said he is more focused on confirming his place in the year-end Badminton World Federation (BWF) Destination Dubai Superseries Finals than he is on chasing down Malaysian rival Lee Chong-wei.

Chen is second to Lee in both the world and BWF Destination Dubai rankings, with the Malaysian winning four out of nine legs held over the annual 12-stage MetLife BWF World Superseries to date.

Chen fought back to win his second event of the season in Denmark last week, but he’s still a way off catching Lee, with whom he shares a nine-all head-to-head record.

Playing down rift

Despite this, the 25-year-old Chinese shuttler — who was in Dubai on Tuesday to promote the end-of-series grand finals to be held at the Hamdan Sports Complex, from December 17-21 — played down his rift with Lee.

“If I perform well I have a chance of getting a higher ranking, but my focus is on the competition,” he told Gulf News via a translator. “I’m very happy that I won the Denmark Open, there are a lot of events throughout the series, but whenever I win I feel happy and I hope I can come to Dubai for the finals. I think if I play well in Hong Kong and China I will have a chance to come to Dubai.”

Only the top eight in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, progress to the US$1 million (Dh3.6 million) grand finals in December. Lee, 32, is the defending champion and record four-time winner of the end-of-season playoff, while Chen has won the year-ender just once in 2012.

Asked if this season’s grand final would be his best chance to get beat Lee, Chen played it safe. “If I meet Lee it will be in the semi-final or the finals,” he said. “So let’s just do our best in the previous rounds and competitions first and we will see what happens later.”

And of his relationship with Lee, Chen added: “My personal communication with him isn’t that much, but we do still talk.”

Chen had a tour of Dubai on Tuesday and visited the Hamdan Sports Complex before dropping into local schools and the second Shuttle Time Dubai Open at Mirdif City Centre to see first hand how badminton’s arrival has already filtered down to grassroots level.

“I think introducing badminton in schools is a brilliant initiative,” he said. “This is the best way to create a legacy from hosting the Superseries Finals and develop a generation of future stars. I look forward to seeing players from the UAE on the world circuit in years to come.”

Of the venue, which will hold the first of four annual end-of-season events from December, following April’s agreement between Dubai and the BWF, Chen added: “It’s a magnificent venue, I am really looking forward to competing here in December. I’m excited at the prospect of playing at such a state-of-the-art facility. It’s great to bring this event to an area that hasn’t had world-class badminton before and I’m sure that sports fans will have a wonderful time watching the best in the world play for the title.”