Obviously still not recovered from his elbow injury, talented Korean star Lee Yong Dae and his partner Lee Hyo Jung suffered an early exit, right before the quarter-final stage against the powerful Taiwanese pair of Lee Sheng Mu and Chien Yu Chin 21-17, 22-20.

Yong Dae is still going in men’s doubles, where he and Jung Jae Sung go up against yesterday’s upset perpetrators Hendri Kurniawan Saputra / Hendra Wijaya of Singapore.  Hyo Jung, of course, was forced to withdraw from women’s doubles before the tournament began when her partner Lee Kyung Won sustained an ankle injury.

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It was akin to a walk in the park for the Malaysian as he hardly broke sweat as he raced to a 5-0 lead before wrapping up the set with neat net play.

The second was no different as Chong Wei led 7-2 and never looked back, wrapping up the match in 26 minutes.

"It's good to start the tournament after the few days of waiting. I had a good feel of the court and playing conditions and am looking forward to a good outing," said Chong Wei.

"There is a slight draft but I doubt it will worry anyone. And as for the hall being not having air conditioning, I believe it’s not an advantage to the Asians as most of the European players too are accustomed to these conditions.”

Chong Wei’s coach Misbun Sidek highlighted the hot conditions: “I’ve never seen Chong Wei sweat so much … it is definitely hot on the court.”

“But I believe it is the same situation for all the players and we have to get used to it.”

Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, who is seeded fifth also eased into the second round, disposing Ola Fagbemi of Nigeria 21-10, 21-10 in 24 minutes.

“It is humid in the courts and it will take getting used to as it is not easy to breathe in this conditions,” said Taufik.

“Guess it is the same for the other players as well but over the next few days we will get used to it.

“I am looking forward to the rest of the week with optimism and hopefully make it all the way to Sunday’s final.”

Also making short work of his opponent was the odds on favourite Lin Dan of China who defeated Iran’s Ali Shahhosseini 21-4, 21-10 in 26 minutes.

The Chinese ace was serious on court and disputed a line call despite being 19-10 in the lead in the second game.

Other seeded players in the morning sessions also registered easy wins in their matches with none being stretched to three games.

Bao Chunlai of China, 9-16^th seed, got off to a winning start as he defeated Chan Yan Kit of Hong Kong 21-11, 21-17 in 33 minutes while South Korea’s Park Sung Hwan defeated Derek Wong of Singapore 21-9,21-18.

In the women’s singles, Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria needed three games to overcome the challenge of Netherland’s Judith Meulendijks, eventually winning 14-21, 21-16, 21-10 after a 55 minute battle.

Meanwhile Adrianti Firdasari of Indonesia ousted Michelle Chang of New Zealand 21-11, 21-16.

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Earlier in the day, Malaysia's independent duo Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah made a shock exit, going down 20-22, 21-17,18-21 to unheralded German pairing of Kristof Hopp-Johannes Schuttler.

It marked the end of an era for the two pairs who had dominated the doubles events in world badminton.

“It was tough in the second game but we prevailed and it’s good to get off to a winning start, especially against an experienced pair,” said Clark.  Gunawan-Bach were world champions in 2005. 

The English pair dominated proceedings in the first game but somewhat lost their bearings when their opponents kept them on the baseline. But they played a patient game to ease into the second round.  

In contrast, the Malaysian duo, who are seeded 16 and bronze medallists in 2007, were expected to ease into the second round but their performance was woeful to say the least.  

They however refused to use their late arrival (they arrived at noon on Sunday, barely 24 hours before their match) as an excuse.  

"We only have ourselves to blame and credit to the opponents who played very well," conceded Wan Wah.  

While savoring the victory, Kristof Hopp said that he was retiring after the tournament.  

"We went in there today with a belief that we can we could win and gave it our best shot. It is indeed a sweet win and hopefully it will spur us to do better as after this I will be quitting," said Hopp.  

Ironically Bach/Gunawan and Tan Fook/Wan Wah were the only seeds that lost in the opening day of the championships.  

India’s doubles campaign was off to a blistering start with the 15^th seeded men’s doubles team of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas beating the Nigerian pair Ola Fagbemi and Jinkan Ifraimu 21-18, 21-10 to make the second round.

In the men’s singles, Denmark’s Jan O’ Jorgensen is a man on a mission. And he has set his sights firmly on making the third round of the World Championships.

Having disposed of Switzerland’s Michael Lahnsteinen 21-12, 21-19 in the opening round, the 11^th seed is hoping to overcome Rajiv Ouseph of England in the second round before an expected meeting against world number 1, Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.

Jorgensen fancies his chances against the top seed, should they eventually meet as he has had the better of the Malaysian in their last meeting, which was in the first round of the China Super Series in 2009.

Prior to that Chong Wei held a 2-0 record against the Dane.

“My target is to make the third round and take on Chong Wei. I am looking forward to that match as no one expects me to win, so really I have nothing to lose,” said Jorgensen.

“But I do fancy my chances against him and have to focus on getting past Rajiv first.”

For the record Jorgensen holds a 5-0 win record over the Englishman, the last win recorded in the semi finals of the European Championships in April this year.

In the women’s singles, India’s Aditi Mutatkar crashed out after being beaten by Japan’s Eriko Hirose 12-21, 16-21.

“Hirose was too strong today,” said Mutatkar after her straight games defeat in the first round. “I tried mixing up my shots in the second game but it just wasn’t my day.”

In the mixed doubles, Jwala Gutta and V Diju of India, despite losing the second game, came back strongly to beat their English counterparts Chris Adcock and Gabriella White 21-6, 14-21, 21-8 to also enter the second round.

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But that did not stop him from targeting the title as he feels that he has what it takes to win the title.

And the fourth seed aims to replace Lin Dan as the Chinese number one player in the near future.  

“Some may feel that the draw is a bit easier in the bottom half as there is no Lee Chong Wei or Lin Dan to overcome to make the final,” said Chen Jin. 

“But these days every player must be treated with respect and hence I intend to take it a match at a time in this tournament. 

“I have set a target to win the title here in Paris and to achieve that I have to be in my best form.”  

On his desire to achieve the number one status in China, Chen Jin said, ”Of course I want to be the top player in China. And contrary to what some may think that I have to wait till Lin Dan retires, I intend to work my way towards that target now.”    

And talking of respecting other players, India’s Chetan Anand learnt that lesson in a bitter way when he was sent packing by Singapore’s Ashton Chen Ong Zhao in the first round. 

The 14^th seeded Indian had no answer to Ashton’s strong baseline play and succumbed to a 21-14, 21-18 defeat in 37 minutes.

“This is the first time I have beaten a seeded player in any world level competition and it is indeed a memorable moment for me,” said Ashton, who completed his two-year National Service in Singapore in July.   

“Not only does this boost my confidence here but also gives me a psychological edge for the Commonwealth Games this October.”  

Also making it to the second round was eighth-seeded Simon Santoso of Indonesia who defeated Poland’s Wacha Przemyslaw 21-11, 21-17 in 33 minutes.

Simon was unperturbed on the pressure for him to deliver in the World Championships following the withdrawal of Sony Dwi Kuncoro due to an injury.

“There is really no pressure as I will play my game and take each match as it comes. It’s unfortunate that Sony is not around but we still have Taufik (Hidayat) to count on,” said Simon who made his national team debut at the 2004 Thomas Cup in Jakarta.

“The road to the title is long and arduous and the task is not easy with the playing conditions as there is an unpredictable draft.”

Simon made the last eight in Hyderabad last year and is looking to improve that achievement with a place in the semi finals as his target this time around.

Meanwhile, Boonsak Polsana of Thailand also moved into the second round with an effortless 21-6, 21-6 win over Vladmir Malkov of Russia in 24 minutes.

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The No 2 seed had a stroll in the humid conditions, defeating Darval Paiola of Brazil with relative ease, winning 21-10, 21-7 in just 23 minutes.
 
Gade was in his usual confident self on the court and cut out the frills in his businesslike approach to win the match.
 
And although buoyed by the fact that Sony Dwi Kuncoro has withdrawn from the tournament, the Dane however preferred to be conservative when asked if his chances of landing the title were good. 
 
“No doubt the bottom half looks open but there are other good players that can pose a lot of problems,” said Gade.
 
“It will be foolhardy to think that I will breeze through. Hence I rather be cautious then be overconfident.”
 
Top seed Wang Yihan of China opened her campaign with a 21-12,21-19 win over Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasentsuk in just 33 minutes.
 
Wang was in her element in the first game but let her guard down in the second. However she did enough to win in two games and looked sharp when in control.
 
In the men’s doubles, Singpore’s Hendri Kurniawan Saputra-Hendra Wijaya sent ninth seeds Alven Chandra Yullianto and Hendra Aprida Gunawan packing with a 21-15, 21-15 scoreline.
 
With the defeat of the Indonesians, three seeds in the men’s doubles have already been sent packing as Malaysia’s Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah and USA’s Tony Gunawan/Howard Bach were first round casualties on Monday.
 
Singapore’s fairytale continued as their mixed doubles pair stepped onto the court to register another major upset.
 
Chayut Triyachart and Lei Yao defeated third seeds Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba of Poland who had won two Super Series events in their career, 21-13, 16-21, 21-14.
 
The Singaporeans will take on India’s crack team of V. Diju and Jwala Gutta who stormed into the third round beating Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying 21-19, 21-8.

After their hard fought three game win over England’s Chris Adcock and Gabriella White on the opening day, the win over the Malaysian pair was like a walk in the park.
Even though the scoreline did seem as if the Indians enjoyed court supremacy, Diju felt it was a hard fought win.

“ We were leading in the first game before they turned the momentum and led with a three point lead before we kind of steadied ourselves,” said a highly relieved Diju.

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