China crushes Malaysia 5-0 in their opener at Sudirman Cup

Hot favourite China swept Malaysia 5-0 to start its Sudirman Cup campaign here on Sunday evening.

In the opening match, third-ranked Chinese Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen rallied from one set down to beat 14th-ranked Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the men's doubles 18-21, 21-14 and 24-22 in one hour.

"Malaysia's men's doubles are the young dark horse, they placed second in the All England Open. So we had full preparation," China's head coach Zhang Jun said. "We held up ourselvese firmly despite lagging behind, and we made adjustment at the right moments to take the third and decisive set."

Chinese pair Du Yue/Li Yinhui rally against Vivian Hoo and Yap Cheng Wen of Malaysia in the women's doubles at the Sudirman Cup in Nanning on May 20, 2019. [Photo: IC]

And Chen Yufei, the All England Open winner, also conceded one set before overcoming Cheah Solina 21-15, 21-23 and 21-14 in the women's singles, helping China enjoy a comfortable 2-0 lead in their Group 1D which also includes India.

"Both my opponent and I had nice performance and the match was quite intense actually," said the No. 3 Chen, "but I had full preparation for it."

The men's singles turned out to be a lopsided match as world No. 2 Shi Yuqi downed Lee Ziijia 21-12, 21-11 in 35 minutes to seal the win for China, before debutant Du Yue who paired with Li Yinhui, beat Vivian Hoo and Yap Cheng Wen 21-18, 21-14 in the women's doubles.

Top-ranked Huang Yaqiong and Zheng Siwei completed the rout by winning the mixed doubles 21-16, 21-12 over Lai Pei Jing and Tan Kian Meng, including a 55-shot rally in their second game to help the winning pair lead 14-6 for good.

After one-day rest, China will take on its second and last group rival India on Tuesday, while India meets Malaysia on Monday, to decide the top two sides advancing to the quarterfinals from the group.

The Sudirman Cup 2019 kicked off on Sunday, featuring 31 countries and regions in the biennial world mixed team championship which will run till May 26.