SENDAI, April 29: Olympic and world champion Taufik Hidayat spearheaded 13-time champions Indonesia to a 5-0 win over New Zealand in the Thomas Cup men's team badminton championship on Saturday.
Three-time former Asian champion Soni Dwi Kuncoro downed Henry Tam 21-10, 21-1, and then Simon Santoso defeated Craig Cooper 21-11, 21-7 to give Indonesia an insurmountable 3-0 lead, before they added the two doubles wins.
Earlier in the day, India pulled off a narrow 3-2 victory over Germany to keep their quarter-final hopes alive.
Chetan Anand, who won one game off world number one Lin Dan in India's 5-0 defeat to China Friday, lost to Bjoern Joppien 21-17, 21-12 in the opening rubber.
But Anup Sridhar outgunned Conrad Hueckstaedt 22-20, 14-21, 21-6, and Arvind Bhat put India 2-1 up by beating Roman Spitko 21-14, 17-21, 21-16.
Although Thomas Kurian and Jaseel Ismail bowed out to Kristof Hopp and Ingo Kindervater 21-9, 21-16, Kumar Rupesh teamed up with Valiyaveettil Diju to beat Michael Fuchs and Roman Spitko 21-18, 21-12.
India, with one win against one defeat in the three-team round robin preliminary round, sit above Germany, who meet favourites China on Sunday.
In other ties, hosts Japan got off to a strong start, beating South Africa 5-0, and will take on European powerhouses Denmark Sunday, while England defeated the United States 3-2.
Taufik Hidayat (Indonesia) bt John Moody (New Zealand) 21-19, 21-15; Soni Dwi Kuncoro (Indonesia) bt Henry Tam (New Zealand) 21-10, 21-1; Simon Santoso (Indonesia) bt Craig Cooper (New Zealand) 21-11, 21-7; Luluk Hadiyanto/Yulianto Alven (Indonesia) bt John Moody/Henry Tam (New Zealand) 21-12, 21-7; Candra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto (Indonesia) bt Daniel Shirley/Craig Cooper (New Zealand) 21-18, retired.Standings: South Korea 1-0, Indonesia 1-0, New Zealand 0-2
Group C
Japan 5 South Africa 0
Shoji Sato (Japan) bt Christoffel Dednam (South Africa) 21-7, 21-11; Yosuke Nakanishi (Japan) bt Roelof Dednam (South Africa) 21-13, 21-11; Sho Sasaki (Japan) bt Willem Viljoen (South Africa) 21-5, 21-10; Keita Masuda/Tadashi Otsuka (Japan) bt Christoffel Dednam/Roelof Dednam (South Africa) 21-16, 21-10; Shuichi Nakao/Keishi Kawaguchi (Japan) bt Dorian James/Willem Viljoen (South Africa) 21-7, 21-8.
Standings: Denmark 1-0, Japan 1-0, South Africa 0-2
Group D
England 3 USA 2
Raju Rai (USA) bt Andrew Smith (England) 23-21, 21-9; Nicholas Kidd (England) bt Eric Go (USA) 21-18, 21-15; Rajiv Ouseph (England) bt Khan Bob Malaythong (USA) 21-13, 21-15; Tony Gunawan/Eric Go (USA) bt Kristian Roebuck/Ian Palethorpe (England) 27-29, 21-13, 21-17; David Lindley/Chris Langridge (England) bt Khan Bob Malaythong/Raju Rai (USA) 21-17, 21-16.