India start with comfortable win

Aparna Popat whipped Tina Riedl 11-3, 11-5 and the new combination of Gopi-Ismail made a winning debut with a 15-9, 15-9 win over Koch brothers Jurgen and Harold.

Manjusha and P V V Laxmi completed the 4-1 score by beating Serova-Riedl 15-4, 15-7. India8217;s next clash is against England on Wednesday.

In other matches, Indonesia made light work of their opening match in the elite group of the Sudirman Cup yesterday, brushing aside Malaysia 4-1.

Indonesia began with victory in the mixed doubles for Trikus Heryanto and Minarti Timur, one of the world8217;s top four pairs, who beat Chan Chong Ming and Joanna Quay 15-5 15-6.

That set the tone for Cindana, the woman responsible for filling the gap left by the absent Mia Audina, to go out and topple Ng Mee Fen 11-6 11-1.

The only hiccup came when world number eight Hendrawan let the first game slip 15-11 against former All-England finalist Ong Ewe Hock before recovering to take the next two games 15-8 15-4 and secure a winning lead and a semifinal place.

Victory in the women8217;s doubles made it 4-0 before men8217;s doubles pair Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagja lost to Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah 17-14 in the third game.

Malaysia8217;s second defeat, after their 4-1 loss to China on the opening day, means they must win their play-off match late in the first week of the mixed team championships if they are to stay in the top flight.

That relegation dogfight is likely to be against Sweden who lost to South Korea 4-1 despite Thomas Johansson8217;s gritty 10-15 15-5 15-10 win over Ahn Jae Chang in the men8217;s singles.

By the time that happened South Korea were already in control thanks to Ra Kyung Min and Chung Jae Hee8217;s opening win over Marina Andrievskaya and Catrine Bengtsson, 15-9 15-10, an men8217;s doubles pair Ha Tae Kwon and Kim Dong Moon8217;s emphatic 15-6 15-6 display against Par Gunnar Jonsson and Peter Axelsson.

All that remained was for Kim Ji Hyun to outplay Margit Borg 11-9 11-5 and the South Koreans had established their winning lead.

That made up for their opening day defeat by Denmark, who are Sweden8217;s remaining group opponents on Wednesday.

But the South Koreans were not finished and Kim and Ra, the favourites for the mixed doubles title when the individual event starts next week, raced to a 15-4 15-8 win over Axelsson and Catrine Bengtsson.

England scored a 5-0 win over Russia while on the adjacent court injury-hit Scotland lost 5-0 to The Netherlands.