Defending Thomas and Uber Cup champions China have opened their campaign at this year’s edition in Horsens, Denmark in convincing styles.
In the Thomas Cup, China cruised to a 5-0 win over Australia while their women’s team also picked up an easy 5-0 win over Ukraine in the Uber Cup.
China rested their top ranked Wang Ziyi in the Uber Cup competition, but still packed too much power over their European rivals.
Chen Yufei was fielded as the first singles and she gave the Chinese side the opening point defeating Sofia Lavrova 21-9, 21-14.
The Chinese singles juggernaut was so strong that world number five Han Yue, playing the second singles cruised past Anastasiia Alymova 21-7, 21-12. Xu Wenjing put the tie beyond doubt as the she defeated Raiia Almalalha 21-6, 21-6 in the deciding singles.
They won both the doubles to take tie 5-0 comfortably.
In the Thomas Cup, second singles Li Shifeng was the only player to drop a game. But he kept his composure to beat Shrey Dhand 21-15, 17-21, 21-6 to give them an unassailable 3-0 lead.
Earlier, Shi Yuqi defeated Stephan Sam Ephraim 21-14, 21-10 for th eopening point and the pair of Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang were also bot troubles by Rizky Hidayat-Jack Yu, winning the first doubles 21-11, 21-12. The won both the remaining dead rubbers for their opening win.
In another Group A Thomas Cup tie, India overcame an opening singles match defeat to beat Canada 4-1. The only blemish for the Indians was the 18-21, 19-21, 10-21 defeat for their top singles player Lakshya Sen. Canadian Pan American champion Victor Lai came back strongly to take the win after a 71-minute battle.
However, India asserted their strength winning all the remaining matches in the tie without dropping a single game.
RESULTS
UBER CUP
GROUP A:
China bt Ukraine 5-0 (Chen Yufei bt Sofia Lavrova 21-9, 21-14; Han Yue bt Anastasiia Alymova 21-7, 21-12; Xu Wenjing bt Raiia Almalalha 21-6, 21-6; Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian bt Anastasiia Alymova-Mariia Stoliarenko 21-13, 21-12; Li Yijing-Luo Xumin bt Raiia Almalalha-Sofiia Lavrova 21-5, 21-8)
GROUP A
Korea beat Spain 5-0 (An Se-young bt Clara Azurmendi 21-15, 21-11; Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong bt Nikol Carulla-Carmen Maria Jiminez 21-11, 21-4; Kim Ga-eun bt Christina Teruel 21-7, 21-5; Lee Seo-jin-Lee Yeon-woo bt Paula Lopez-Lucia Rodriguez 21-12, 21-12; Kim Ga-eun bt Ines Costero 21-9, 21-8)
THOMAS CUP
GROUP A:
China bt Australia 5-0 (Shi Yuqi bt Stephan Sam Ephraim 21-14, 21-10; Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang bt Rizky Hidayat-Jack Yu 21-11, 21-12; Li Shifeng bt Shrey Dhand 21-15, 17-21, 21-6; Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi bt Andika Ramadiansyah-Frederick Zhao 21-8, 21-12; Lu Guangzu bt Rishi Honda Boobathy 21-7, 21-6)
India bt Canada 4-1 (Laksya Sen (Ind) lost to Victor Lai 21-18, 19-21, 10-21; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty bt Jonathan Lai Bing Tsai 21-10, 21-11; Ayush Shetty bt Brian Yang 21-13, 21-17; Hariharan Amsakumaran-M.R. Arjun bt Ty Alexander Lindeman-Nyl Yakura 21-7, 21-15; Kidambi Srikanth BT Joshua Nguyen 21-17, 21-12)
GROUP D
Thailand beat France 4-1 (Kunlavut Vitidsarn bt Christo Popov 21-15, 22-20; Panitchapon Teeraratsakul bt Alex Lanier 21-17, 21-19; Puritat Arree lost to Toma Junior Popov 6-21, 7-21; Ruttanapak Oupthong-Dechapol Puavaranukroh beat Julien Maio-Willam Villeger 21-15, 17-21, 21-10; Peeratchai Sukphun-Pakkapon Teeraratsakul bt Christo Popov-Toma Junior Popov 11-21, 21-11,21-12)
