China race to opening badminton victory

Lin Dan was in typically cut-throat form as reigning champions China beat Germany 4-1 on Sunday in the first action at the Sudirman Cup world mixed team championships. The hosts and holders did not have it entirely their own way though, with women's world number one Wang Shixian surprisingly losing to Juliane Schenk 21-19, 21-16 in a notable consolation for the Germans. There was no such difficulty for crowd-favourite "Super Dan", widely regarded as the best player of all time, who powered past Marc Zwiebler 21-10, 21-16 to put the red-hot favourites firmly on their way. The 27-year-old was given a rousing reception by a near-capacity crowd in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao. And he did not disappoint his expectant fans, forcing the world-ranked 14 Zwiebler to scramble all over the court in a desperate search for points. The flamboyant Lin has been known to toss his shirt, socks and even his shoes into the crowd after some matches, but he was more circumspect on this occasion, merely waving to the stands before disappearing down the tunnel. Lin's comfortable 35-minute victory put holders China 2-0 up against the Germans in the opening tie of the tournament and the hosts who are going after their fourth Sudirman Cup in a row looked set for a 5-0 victory. But the plucky Schenk had other ideas, battling to a deserved win, to generous applause from the home crowd. "Young athletes have to suffer setbacks," China's head coach Li Yongbo said of the 21-year-old Wang's shock defeat. "We had some problems with her tactics and maybe she was too anxious, so there were some psychological problems. She told me that she was too anxious and hurried. "But I don't think she will be affected, good players grow from setbacks and we will help her." Indonesia, who left many of their stars at home, overcame a sluggish start to see off Russia 4-1 in the other top-level tie of the first session.