China's joint fifth seed Chen Hong breezed into the second round of the badminton world championship with a 21-11, 21-9 victory over Pedro Yang of Guatemala in Madrid, Spain.

The Chinese, a semifinalist at the Thailand Open this year and winner of the China Open and the All England last year, put Yang under heavy pressure throughout, forcing him into a series of errors at the Palacio de Deportes.

Chen will meet Simon Maunoury in his next match after the Frenchman eased past Iran's Kaveh Mehrabi 21-17, 21-7.

Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat easily beat 13th-seeded Ng Wei of Hong Kong 21-11, 21-14 in the first round of the world badminton championships.

Taufik, who is unseeded after dropping out of the top 16 in the world rankings despite being the defending champion, trailed 16-13 in the first game before winning six straight points to take control at Palacio des Desportes.

After the win, the Indonesian called for the sport to use technology to help clarify disputed line calls. Three weeks ago, the 25-year-old Hidayat walked out during the Hong Kong Open quarterfinals over a disputed call.

"I would like us to use cameras like tennis," Hidayat said. "It would be good if we could challenge decisions and ask the umpire to review them."

In the women's event world No. 3 Xie Xingfang, seeded joint third in Madrid, was expected to begin her bid to retain her title when she was scheduled to take on Kati Tolmoff in a first round match later yesterday.

In a nail-biting first round contest Austria's Simone Prutsch managed to stave off a determined fightback from Finland's Nina Weckstrom to win through 21-10, 19-21, 24-22.

In Monday's action, Joachim Persson of Denmark topped Olympic silver medalist Shon Seung-mo of South Korea 22-20, 21-13 in the first round.

Shon had beaten Persson last month at the Korea Open.

"Even though I lost to him in Korea, I always felt I could win," Persson said. "I've been in good form and when I won the first game from the tricky end of the arena that just boosted my confidence."

On the women's side, Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia saved four match points and rallied to beat Chinese Taipei's Chien Yu-chin 18-22, 22-20, 21-10.

"When I was down in the second game I didn't have anything to lose," she said. "I just tried my best to get the points."

(Shanghai Daily September 20, 2006)