The Thomas and Uber Cups Team Badminton Championships opened today in Sendai, Japan. The Chinese players, who clinched both the men's and women's team titles in Indonesia in 2004, were all set to defend the two coveted world group trophies.

In the first round competitions, the Chinese men's team recorded a clean sweep victory over India 5-0 and the women's team also whitewashed US 5-0 to ease into the next phase.

After the Chinese squad trained for the last time yesterday afternoon, the men's singles coach, Li Zhifeng, said that world No.6, Bao Chunlai, had been fully recovered from an ankle injury and all the players were in good form for the upcoming matches. 

The Chinese women's single roster boasts Athens Olympic gold medallist, Zhang Ning, world champion Xie Xingfang and National Games title holder, Jiang Yanjiao, while the world top pair of Gao Ling and Huang Sui and the newly crowned Asian Champions, Yu Yang and Du Jing, lead the doubles as hot favorites for their fifth straight and 10th overall Uber Cup.

On the men's side, World No.1 singles player Lin Dan, who won back the Thomas Cup for China for the first time in 14 years in 2004, spearheads the team together with last year's All England champion Chen Hong, former world champion Xia Xuanze and world youth champion Chen Jin. The doubles include world No.3 duo Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng and young partners Xie Zhongbo and Guo Zhendong, ranked world No.15. They will face challenges from Denmark, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea.

Since China first competed in the Thomas and Uber Cups, the Chinese players have collected the two trophies  four times -- in 1985, 1988, 1990 and 2004. With an all star line-up on hand for the women's team, Chinese head coach, Li Yongbo, said he believed nobody could stop the ladies from extending their winning streak to five which would tie with the record China made 10 years ago. 

But Li also admitted the men's team could face difficulties as they battle for the title. "Our goal for the men is to push hard and take the advantage rather than simply attempt to defend the cup because a lot could happen under the new 21-point regulations."

This is the first time world group competitions are being held under the new 21-point system after the International Badminton Federation (IBF) reformed itself last year. Players, who used to play well under the 15-point system, have to convert their playing style to suit the new system. It was introduced in an attempt to narrow the gap between the strong and the weak. Wang Lin is one of those who benefited from the new rules as she came from nowhere to upset Zhang Ning, Xie Xingfang and Asian champion Wang Chen to win the China Masters title last month.

Nevertheless the Chinese players still won over 60 percent of their world championship matches in the past two years and grabbed 9 out of 10 titles in the World Cup and China Masters following the introduction of the new 21-point system.

The Thomas Cup is the major men's international team competition in world badminton named after Sir George Alan Thomas, a former IBF President, who donated the Cup in 1939. The first Thomas Cup competition was held in 1948. A female team competition, the Uber Cup, donated by Mrs. H.S. Uber, an English badminton player, started in 1956. The Cups are competed for every two years. This year's matches run until May 7 and close in Tokyo.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, April 28, 2006)