China make good progress in Badminton

China again wrote most of the headlines on the second day of Olympic competition at Wembley Arena.

Although their leading lights in the men’s and women’s singles are still to enter the action at London 2012, most of their other big guns enjoyed good wins.

Their men’s singles number two Chen Long, the third seed, survived a fightback by Thailand’s Ponsana Boonsak to claim his place in the last 16.

Chen prevailed 21-12 21-17 in a compelling 52-minute encounter in which world number 22 Ponsana played a full part.

Ponsana led 15-10 and 17-16 in the second game but Chen hit back and won five successive points to settle the match.

Being the only match in Group E, the result meant the end of Ponsana’s campaign and he later voiced displeasure with the format.

While some players are guaranteed two matches in the round-robin section, half of the 16 groups comprise just two players.

Ponsana said: “It’s like a knockout for me. The chance is 50-50 if we were three in a group but with two there is no chance.

“I think I lost my confidence to play. I lost some points and I lost my control. I made too many mistakes.”

Women’s third seed Li Xuerui also went through with a convincing 21-13 21-11 defeat of Spain’s Carolina Marin.

It was a similar story in the doubles competitions as all three of China’s top seeds made successful outings.

Men’s doubles world champions Fu Haifeng and Cai Yun overcame a first-game wobble to beat Germans Ingo Kindervater and Johannes Schoettler 22-20 21-16.

In the mixed event, Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei were among the day’s most impressive performers, beating Russians Alexandr Nikolaenko and Valeria Sorokina 21-9 21-18.

Compatriots and second seeds Xu Chen and Ma Jin opened up with a 21-14 21-8 success over Malaysians Chan Peng-soon and Goh Liu-ying.

Women’s doubles leading lights Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli thrashed Sorokin and Nina Visolva 21-6 21-9.

Other notable performances included Commonwealth Games gold medallist Saina Nehwal of India brushing aside Swiss outsider Sabrina Jacquet 21-9 21-4 in 24 minutes of singles action.

Thailand’s Bodin Issara and Maneepong Jongjit unexpectedly took charge of Group B in the men’s doubles with a shock 21-15 21-14 win over fourth seeds Ko Sung-hyun and Yoo Yeon-seong.

Mixed doubles third seeds Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir cruised towards the last eight by making easy work of South Korea’s Lee Yong-dae and Ha Jung-eun, winning 21-19 21-12.

That could take the pressure off for their final Group C game, an All England final rematch against Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl.

The Danes entered the competition with a 21-12 21-16 defeat of Jwala Gutta and Diju V of India.