Axelsen marches on in dominating fashion

WORLD champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark began his title defence with a dominating 21-8, 21-7 win over Duarte Anjo on the first day of the World Cham­pionships.

Axelsen controlled the match throughout, taking an early lead in both games before winning 12 of the last 13 points to advance yesterday.

Despite being hampered by injuries early in the season, Axelsen won the European Championship in April and appears to be in the kind of form that last year helped him become the first European in 20 years to win the world title.

Third-seeded Shi Yuqi of China beat Adam Mendrek of the Czech Republic 21-13, 21-11 in his opening match.

Yuqi, who won the All England earlier this year, has the highest seeding of any of the Chinese men.

Five-time champion Lin Dan, seeded ninth, opened with a 21-14, 21-14 win over Mark Caljouw of Holland.

Caljouw levelled at 9-9 in the second game before Lin Dan pulled away behind a series of precision smashes.

Among other first-round winners was No. 11 H.S. Prannoy of India, who beat Abhinav Manota of New Zealand 21-12, 21-11. He will face Brazilian Ygor Coelho in the second round.

Number two-ranked Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia withdrew from the world meet and the upcoming Asian Games as he recovers from a respiratory problem, the Badminton Association of Malaysia said.

In men’s doubles, India’s Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy beat Daniel Nikolov and Ivan Rusev of Bulgaria 21-13, 21-18 to set up a second-round encounter with seventh-seeded Takuto Inoue and Yuli Kaneko of Japan.

All of the seeded players in women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles received first-round byes. — AP