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Danish veteran shuttler Kenneth Jonassen had an easy ride through
the first round of the 250,000 dollar China Open badminton
championships in Guangzhou. [Agencies] |
Danish veteran shuttler Kenneth Jonassen and local
hopeful Bao Chunlai had an
easy ride through the first round of the 250,000 dollar China Open
badminton championships in Guangzhou.
The mixed doubles event was
thrown wide open when world No 1 mixed pair Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms
withdrew due to injury.
Fifth-seeded Bao beat Hong Kong's Yohan Hadikusumo Wiratama 15-6,
13-15, 15-3, blaming a knee injury for his second set loss.
"I didn't perform one hundred percent because I'm still recovering from
my left knee injury," said the 21-year-old Bao.
"That's why I lost the second set."
Jonassen beat Malaysia's Kuan Beng-Hong 15-3, 15-9 in 40 minutes. The
European runner-up will now face China's Zhu Weilun.
In the men's singles, China's Hu Yun beat Jonassen's teammate Anders
Boesen 8-15, 15-7, 15-3.
 Among other wins for the home players, 19-year-old Lu Yi beat the
Netherlands Dicky Palyama and Wu Yunyong triumphed over Malaysia Open
champion Lee Chong Wei.
World No1 Lin Dan, world champion Xia Xuanze and Olympic champion
Taufik Hidayat enjoyed first-round
byes.
It was a disappointing day for England, with the withdrawal of Emms and
Robertson and elimination of their two other seeded mixed pairs.
Natalie Munt and Robert Blair lost to Indonesia's Tetty Yunita and
Anggun Nugroho in straight sets while Donna Kellogg and Anthony Clark lost
to Wong Pei-Tty and Koo Kien-Keat of Malaysia 9-14, 15-13 and 15-3.
Indonesians Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir enjoyed a walkover after
a pre-competition injury to Emms's leg forced the English pair to quit.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-11-10 09:24