The 2016 Rio Olympic Games men's and women's singles events gold medalists Chen Long of China and Spain's Carolina Marin will not be taking part in the upcoming Badminton World Federation (BWF) French Open this week.

Chen claimed his first-ever Olympic gold medal after beating the current world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the championship round of the prestigious quadrennial sporting competition. The 27-year-old professional badminton player has been confirmed to miss the French capital-based badminton event. However, Chen's reason for not participating was not mentioned in the report.

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Meanwhile, Inside the Games reported that the tourney's defending champion Lee arrived in Paris and the Malaysian badminton superstar's chances of keeping the title appears to have been pushed up by the news that his Chinese nemesis has opted not to join the tournament.

Rio Games bronze medalist Viktor Axelsen of Denmark will be competing in the event along with his compatriot Jan O Jorgensen, who finished third-place in the last 2015 World Championships.

In the meantime, women's singles world No.1 Marin, who recently lost to Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the Denmark Open's semifinals last week, pulled out of the tournament today due to an injury.

"It's sad for me to announce that I'm not going to compete in France, one of my favorite tournaments," the 23-year-old world champion announced on her Twitter account. "It's time to recover."

With Marin officially out in the list, Olympic silver medalist PV Sindhu of India is believed to pose the strongest challenge to the title.

The tournament offers qualification points on the road to December's Super Series Finals that will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. According to the official website of the BWF, it has total prize money of $300,000.

The prestigious badminton event ,which will kick off tomorrow at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris, is part of the BWF Super Series and 354 players from around the globe are expected to participate.

TagsChen Long, Lee Chong Wei, Carolina Marin, bwf rankings, bwf, French Open, viktor axelsen, pv sindhu