After a clean 5-0 sweep of Mexico in their first match, the men from the host nation would take on France in a Group A encounter knowing a win would give them a spot in the quarter-finals.
World No.3 Lin Dan, who was rest on the opening day, failed to make a perfect debut as the five-time world champion edged out Lucas Claerbout 20-22, 21-14, 21-8 in the second singles, giving China a 3-0 lead to get the second straight win in Group A. (Xinhua)
China start off with world number one Chen Long in the first tie against Thomas Rouxel. As expected, Chen in the blue has little trouble against the Frenchman and this smash gives him a 3-0 lead.
Gamepoint arrives pretty quickly and Chen takes the first game 21-9, when Rouxel's smash goes wide.
The Frechman fails to muster any more resistance in the second. Chen would win it 20-12 with some nice play at the net. A straight forward victory for the world number one who wraps it up in 43 minutes making it 1-0 China.
Next up would be doubles with Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan representing the hosts and making light work of Ronan Labar and Gaetan Mittelheisser 21-16, 22-20 in just 38 minutes. China led 2-0 in the best-of-five.
The onus would then be on two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan to seal it for the hosts but his opponent Lucas Claerbout would not go without a fight. Here the Frenchman smashes to lead 21-20 in a surprisingly tight game.
Claerbout would soon seal the game 22-20 when Lin pushes it wide, shocking the fans and former world number one.
But Lin would quickly recover from the setback to win the next two games 21-14 and 21-8. China would go on to win the next two ties as well to seal a 5-0 victory over the French. They will face their toughest test Wednesday, when they take on defending champions Japan, the team that knocked them out at the semi-final stage in the last edition two years ago in New Delhi, India.
"I felt today that I was able to get into top form much quicker than yesterday. And I hope that I can do even better in my next match," Chen Long said.
"I don't think I am playing at my best. I have played many BWF events this year, because of Olympic qualifications, so I haven't had time to train properly. I hope after the Thomas Cup, we can have a short break, and after the Australian Open and Indonesia Open, we can have another training camp before Rio," Lin Dan said.
