Persson shocked, Chen and Hidayat advance in badminton

Seventh-seeded Joachim Persson of Denmark crashed out of the world badminton championships here on Tuesday, losing to unseeded Japanese Kenichi Tago in the men's singles first round.

Kenichi Tago of Japan smashes against Joachim Persson of Denmark during the mens singles badminton match of the World Badminton Championships at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad . Tago defeated Persson 16-21, 21-14, 21-13.

The 22nd-ranked Japanese came back strongly after losing the opening game, winning 16-21, 21-14, 21-13 in the day's only major upset.

Second-seeded Chinese Chen Jin stormed into the men's singles second round with a crushing 21-14, 21-19 win over Eric Pang of the Netherlands to set up a clash with India's Parupalli Kashyap.

There were no surprises in the women's section, with seventh-seeded Lu Lan of China advancing into the second round with an easy 21-16, 21-5 victory over Ukraine's Larisa Griga.

Other seeded players to move into the women's singles second round with straight-game wins were Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva, Korean Hye Youn Hwang, and Hong Kong's players Wang Chen and Yip Pui Yin.

Ninth-seeded Yu Hsing Hsieh of Taipei survived a scare in the men's singles first round, saving a match-point before ending Indian Arvind Bhat's resistance with a 21-14, 19-21, 24-22 victory.

The Indian was just a point away from winning the match when he led 22-21 in the third game before faltering at crucial stages to suffer his third defeat against the same opponent.

"I think I deserved to win," Bhat said.

"I was feeling good with my game, but I am sad about the end result. It has often been happening in my career that I am unable to finish off matches."

Kashyap gave home fans plenty to cheer about with a 21-9, 21-13 win over Iranian Shahhosseini Ali.

"I think it was a good performance," said Kashyap.

"I know the next match (against Chen) will be tough, but if I play my best I have a good chance. I think today's game was a good warm up for me for the next match."

Former champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia raced to a 21-14, 21-14 victory over Christian Boesiger of Switzerland in his opening match.

"I like playing here because of the crowd support. I am happy that I am in the easier half of the draw," said the fourth-seeded Indonesian, who won the Indian Open here early this year.

Hidayat is in the lower half of the draw, while favourites Lin Dan of China and top-seeded Malaysian Lee Chong Wei are in the top half. Lin and Lee advanced to the second round on Monday with straight-game wins.

Eighth-seeded Korean Park Sung Hwan overcame a slow start to down Norway's Steinar Klausen 19-21, 21-13, 21-18.

Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana, seeded 16th, and Raul Must of Estonia were also involved in tough matches before advancing to the second round.

Ponsana downed Kestutis Navickas of Lithuania 21-14,14-21, 21-17, while Must posted a 21-16, 18-21, 21-12 victory over Russian Ivan Sozonov.