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)
