China beats US in 1st round of Thomas Cup

Chinese players were too strong to their US opponents in the first round of Thomas Cup finals with a 5-0 victory without even dropping a single set at the Bung Karno Badminton Hall in Jakarta on May 7.

With four Asian faces in its only five-member team, including men's double Olympic medallist Tony Gunawan from Indonesia, the United States remained unable to stop the Chinese young guns.

China, a hot favorite to clinch the men's world team title, grabbed their first point from world's number one Lin Dan, who beat Eric Go 15-0, 15-2 in the opening match.

Thomas Cup

China extended the lead after men's doubles Zheng Bo/Sang Yang defeated Tony Gunawan/Khan Bob Malaytong 15-5, 15-5.

US second singles Howard Bach was no match to world's number two Chen Hong and gave up 3-15, 3-15.

In the following two matches, Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng defeated KevinHan/Howard Bach in two tight sets 15-12, 15-13 and 2003 world champion Xia Xuanze beat Kevin Han 15-12, 15-1 to sweep over the best-of-five ties.

Source: Xinhua