Chinese Bao Chunlai became the first major casualty after he was ousted by Dicky Palyama of the Netherlands in the men's singles opening round of the world badminton championships on Monday.
"Bao is higher ranked than me so there was simply no pressure on me," Palyama said after beating the 11th seed 21-18, 21-14 in only 36 minutes.
"Bao is a tough player, but my coach told me to keep cool. I knew I had a chance to win the match when I was leading in the second game," he added.
Lin Dan, the Beijing Olympic champion and Bao's teammate, began his title defence in style when the fifth seed outplayed Israeli Misha Zilberman 21-9, 21-11 in 23 minutes.
Danish third seed Peter Gade eased through, the former All-England champion displaying power and precision to dispatch unseeded Valeriy Atrashchenkov of Ukraine 21-11, 21-16.
Lin and Gade are expected to clash in the quarterfinals.
(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2009)
