Gong Ruina sweeps into the last 16

Gong Ruina sweeps into the last 16

Chinese top seed Gong Ruina encountered few problems on her way to an 11-9, 11-4 first round victory over Singapore's Li Li in the Olympic women's singles badminton tournament here on Saturday.

In the mixed doubles, Taipei's Tsai Chia-Hsin and Chen Wen- Hsing beat South Africa's Chris Dednam and Antoinette Uys, while Indonesia's Anggun Nugroho and Eny Widiowati needed a third set to see off Russia's Nikolaj Zuev and Marina Yakusheva 12-15, 15- 7, 15-5.

Gong, the world number one, was pushed hard in the first set before her exciting airborne attacks and delicate drop shots forced the Commonwealth champion into submission and clinched a place in the last 16.

An inspirational figure in China's triumphant Uber Cup-winning team, Gong admitted she had to change her tactics in the second set to shake off her tricky opponent.

"It was a very difficult first set and I had to adapt to her style and thankfully I came through," said the 25-year-old All England champion, appearing at her first Olympics.

Gong, who left home at the age of 12 to attend a sports school, sounded an ominous warning to her rivals by saying she was playing better now than she did at the Uber Cup.

"I'm in better shape and I want to be the champion," she insisted.

Gong will play Thailand's Ponsana Salakjit in the next round. The world number 36 caused a surprise by overcoming Japan's Miho Tanaka, ranked 19 places above her, 11-7, 5-11, 11-8.

South Korea's Seo Yoon-Hee provided the tournament's first upset, defeating China-born French number eight seed Pi Hongyan in a gripping encounter.

Ranked 28th in the world, Seo showed plenty of guts and determination to win 11-6, 6-11, 11-7 and will now play either Bulgaria's Petya Nedelcheva and Denmark's Tine Rasmussen.

Dutch fourth seed Mia Audina, a silver medalist at the 1996 Atlanta Games when she represented Indonesia at the age of 16, barely broke sweat in her 11-4, 11-1 demolition of Nigella Saunders, Jamaica's first ever Olympic contender in the sport.

Audina, who moved to the Netherlands in 1999 to marry a Dutch gospel singer, will meet the winner of the match between India's Aparna Popat and South Africa's Michelle Edwards.

South Korean sixth seed Jun Jae-Youn, runner-up in the Korean and Thailand Open, advanced after a comfortable 11-4, 11-5 win against Canada's Charmaine Reid, ranked 35th in the world.

Jun will play Taipei's Cheng Shao-Chieh in the last 16. Cheng was made to battle for her 11-9, 11-8 victory over Honk Kong's Ling Wan Ting.