The Chinese shuttlers gave no chance to their Thai counterparts, obliterating them 5-0 on the first day of the Sudirman Cup World Team Badminton Championships at Scotstoun International Arena yesterday.

China, who will face Thailand, England and Malaysia in the group stages, has sent a 17-member delegation to the week-long events. The "Dream Team" is led by world No.1 Lin Dan for the men and Zhang Ning for the women. Impressively, only one member of the squad, rookie Zhu Lin, has not won a world title. However, other strong nations such as South Korea, Indonesia and Denmark will aim to prevent China's ascent to the title.

This might was no help for Thailand though as Zheng Bo/Gao Ling made an example of Songphon Anugritayawon/Kunchala Voravichitchaikul in 21-13, 21-12 to win the mixed doubles.

Formerly paired with Zhang Jun with whom she took gold at the Athens Olympics, Gao switched after Zhang's star dimmed upon the implementation of the 21-point system. The new pairing of Zheng and Gao proved to be a wise one as they cruised to rank sixth in the world, a slew of titles behind them.

For her part, world No.2 women's singles player Xie Xingfang crushed Soratja Chansrisukot 21-11, 21-9 while her boyfriend Lin Dan saw off a rough challenge by Poompat Sapkulchananart 21-18, 21-14 in the third match.

The men's and women's doubles proved equally comfortable for Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng and Yang Wei/Zhao Ting who breezed through their matches due to a combination of strong net play and powerful smashes. 

Despite this strong showing, China's head coach Li Yongbo lamented that the whitewash was not an accurate reflection since Thailand benched their best male singles player Ponsana Boonsak and mixed doubles duo of Prapakamol Sudket and Thoungthongkam Saralee, electing to keep them fresh ahead of the clashes with Malaysia and England.

"It was not the line-up we expected," said Li. "They chose to give up and this rendered us passive."

In other matches, Malaysia upset traditional powerhouse England 3-2, South Korea edged out Indonesia 3-2, and Denmark defeated Hong Kong 3-2.

Named after Dick Sudirman, a former Indonesian badminton player and the founder of the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI), the Sudirman Cup is a biannual tournament that began in 1989. Since its inception, China has been crowned five times.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, June 12, 2007)