BIRMINGHAM (England), March 6: China’s Lin Dan stuttered in the defence of his All England badminton title here on Wednesday with a 16-21, 21-8, 21-11 first-round victory over Anup Sridhar of India.

But Xie Xingfang, the world No 1’s girlfriend and top seed in the women’s event, lost her first-round match as did No 2 seed and Olympic champion Zhang Ning.

Sridhar had been expected to test top-seeded Lin after stretching him at last year’s world championships in Kuala Lumpur.

But after taking the first game Sridhar could not follow through and lost in 42 minutes.

World champion Lin is under extra pressure in Birmingham after ugly scenes in the Korean Open final in January when he lost to home favourite Lee Hyun-il.

They were drawn to meet again in Saturday’s semi-finals but, possibly to the relief of officials, Lee lost his first-round match 19-21, 21-19, 21-14 to China’s Chen Yu.

The Badminton World Federation is holding meetings in Birmingham during the All England tournament to seek ways of avoiding a repetition of the Korean clashes.

With Lee’s departure, Lin’s biggest rivals loom as Athens gold medallist Taufik Hidayat and No 2 seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, who both enjoyed comfortable first-round victories.

But Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro had to battle past compatriot Andre Kurniawan Tedjono 11-21, 21-12, 21-9.—Reuters