Day 1 Badminton review: China start in style

Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei were hardly troubled as they brushed off the challenge of Germans Michael Fuchs and Birgit Michels in Group A, winning 21-6 21-7 in 28 minutes.

Such was their superiority that the longest rally of the match was only 19 strokes.

It was a similar story in the women's Doubles as Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang saw off Canada's Michele Li and Alex Bruce 21-11 21-7 in Group D.

In the men's event, Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng were not kept long by Australians Ross Smith and Glenn Warfe in Group A, winning 21-11 21-17.

Zhao was also in action earlier in the day in the women's Doubles, in which she is seeded second with Tian Qing, and enjoyed a 21-11 21-12 win over Poon Lok Yan and Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong.

Also impressive from China was women's third seed Li Xuerui, who was a late addition to the team but looked imperious as Peru's Claudia Rivero was vanquished 21-5 21-6 in just 22 minutes.

Yet the Chinese may not have it all their own way, with the All England men's Doubles champions, the second-seeded Chung Jae-sung and Lee Dong-dae, beating former world leaders Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan 21-15 21-19.

With the top seeds in the men's and women's Singles not in action, former Olympic and world champion Taufik Hidayat took centre stage to make a winning start in one of the highlights.

The 2004 Athens gold medallist, seeded 11th, proved too strong for the Czech Republic's Petr Koukal, winning 21-8 21-8 in Group O.

Germany's Marc Zwiebler also made swift work of the world's number 209, Mohamed Ajfan Rasheed of the Maldives.