Olympic semifinalist Boonsak Ponsana from Thailand powered through while former world champion Xia Xuanze of China struggled in the first round of the 2006 Aviva-Cofco China Masters Badminton Championships in Chengdu on Wednesday.

Ponsana, seeded nine, eased past listless Pei Wei Chung from Malaysia by straight sets 21-12, 21-7 in 30 minutes. The 23-year old Thai was the runner-up of the World Cup in Yiyang, Hunan Province late last year where he lost to current world No. 1 Lin Dan of China in the men's single final.

The 12th seed Xia faced tough challenge from Ahn Hyun Suk of South Korea in a 50-minute clash. Winning the first set 25-23, the 28-year old Chinese lost the second 17-21 but bounced back in the final set to win by 21-13. The former leading shuttler lost his ambition after winning the world title in 2003 and has slided to the 31st in the world rankings.

"I will also play in the doubles which will be a new experience for me," said the sixth-ranked men's single in China, "Now I played just for fun and for a longer career."

Most of the other seeded players in the men's singles, including Chen Yu from China and Yeoh Kay Bin of Malaysia marched through to the second round except for Yohan Hadikusumo Wiratama from Hong Kong, China, eliminated by China's Lu Yi 5-21, 18-21.

No seeds played in the women's singles, but there was still a surprise as world junior champion Cheng Shao-Chieh from Chinese Taipei was ousted by Zhu Lin of China 8-21, 16-21 in 33 minutes' time.

Zhu, 21, was the runner-up of the German World Cup earlier this year while 19-year-old Cheng has a more brilliant resume. Besides a world junior title, the tiny young woman finished third at last year's World Championships in the United States and was a quarterfinalist at the Athens Olympic Games 2004.

In women's doubles, three Chinese pairs locked three seats in the last eight. Eighth seed Yu Yang/Du Jing saw off Chow Hoi Wah/ Wong Man Ching of Hong Kong, China 21-5, 21-9 and Wei Yili/Zhang Yawen prevailed over Japan's fifth seed Kumiko Ogura/Reiko Shiotaogura in straight sets 21-10, 21-11. Liao Jingmei/Wang Xiaoli rallied from one set down to topple the seventh seed KamilaAugustyn/Nadiezda Kostiuczykaugustyn from Poland 17-21, 21-10, 21-19.

The US$250,000 tournament, concludes on March 12, is a six-star open recognized by the World Badminton Federation and the last international tournament before the Thomas and Uber Cup which unveil next month in Japan.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2006)