Lee eases through opening round at badminton worlds
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World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei, Olympic champion Lin Dan as well as the 10th seed Bao Chunlai all eased through the first round of the men's singles at the Badminton World Championships in Paris on Monday.
Lee, 27, sent off opponent Kevin Cordon of Guatemala 21-7, 21- 11 in the opening match, unveiling the annual World Championships Monday morning.
The Malaysian ace believed that shouldering too much pressures was one of the reasons that he yet to claims a world champion title.
"Maybe I'm longing for it too much, I missed it every time," said Lee, who tried to be relaxed and thought "reaching the final is good enough".
Lee is going to face his teammate Muhammad Hafiz Hashim in the second round while his archrival Lin Dan from China will meet Swedish Henri Hurskainen on the same stage.
Olympic gold medallist Lin comfortably beat Ali Shahhosseini from Iran 21-4, 21-10 on Monday, but revealed that he was not in his top form due to fatigue.
The three-time world champion refused to show his ambition of a fourth consecutive win at the world championships but claimed Lee as the title favorite.
"He is in form and keeps the world number one ranking. I think he is the hot favorite," said the third seed Lin. As for the second favorite, Lin named veteran Peter Gade rather than himself.
The 33-year-old Danish shuttler Gade is slated to play Daniel Paiola of Brazil on Tuesday. He was defeated by Lin in the quarterfinals last year.
Before Lin's victory, his teammate Bao Chunlai managed Chan Yan Kit from Hong Kong 21-11, 21-17.
Bao, 27, suffered first round knockout at last year's World Championships but didn't taste the same bitterness this time.
"I wouldn't allow myself to make the same mistake again," said the 10th seed who imputed his failure to lack of preparation.
But Bao's competition is doomed to a tough journey as he is likely to face Lin in the third round.
In the women's singles event, the 10th seed Eriko Hirose from Japan overcame Indian Aditi Mutatkar in straight games.
Bulgarian Linda Zechiri enjoyed a lucky win after the ninth seed Zhou Mi representing Hong Kong, China quitting the competition due to injury.
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