Olympics | Chinese players kick off badminton group stage with perfect results

PARIS, July 27 (Xinhua) -- China's badminton squad made a commanding start at the Paris Olympics, winning all seven of their first round group matches at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena on Saturday.

In the mixed doubles, China's No. 2 pair, Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping, comfortably defeated the American duo of Vinson Chiu and Jennie Gai with 21-11, 21-14.

Huang, a gold medalist at Tokyo 2020, noted that they quickly took control of the first set and adapted well to their opponents' adjustments in the second. "We found a way to cope with it very quickly," Huang said.

The top-seeded Chinese women's doubles, Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan, overcame a strong challenge from Malaysia's Tan Pearly and Thinaah Muralitharan, winning 21-17 and 22-20.

The other match in group A ended with the Japanese pair of Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara defeating India's Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti in two sets.

Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, the top-seeded pair in mixed doubles, encountered a strong challenge from France's Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue, but managed to win by 21-14, 23-21.

In the men's and women's singles match-ups, Chinese player Shi Yuqi and He Bingjiao advanced respectively with 2-0 victories, so did the Chinese women's doubles duo of Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning.

Denmark's Viktor Axelsen, Indonesia's Jonatan Christie, Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Japan's Akane Yamaguchi all moved on with wins.

The group stage matches will last to next Thursday.