BEIJING, Aug 10: China's champion women marched over their opponents in their first matches at the Olympic badminton on Sunday, but not before gold medallist Zhang Ning suffered an early scare.

World No 1 Xie Xingfang trounced Cheng Shao-Chieh in the women's singles 21-1, 21-9, the Taiwanese, playing with an injured knee, throwing herself on the ground in efforts to return the Chinese star's shots.

Xie, favourite to take gold in her first Olympics, won in just 32 minutes and now plays Bulgaria's Olga Konon in the last 16.

Xie’s boyfriend and world No 1 Lin Dan, takes to the courts on Monday.Third seed Lu Lan was on her way to thrashing Karen Foo Kune from Mauritius before she retired injured in the second game.

Lu, China's 21-year-old rising star, now plays Anna Rice after the Canadian downed Switzerland's Jeannine Cicognini 2-0.

In contrast to her teammates, defending champion Zhang Ning stumbled early in her match against Thailand's tenacious Ponsana Salakjit, losing the first game before steadying and then storming home 3-1.

Zhang, seeded second, said she was unfazed about her skaky start against the 29th seed and was always confident of coming up with victory.

Zhang is under pressure at these Games after her inclusion in the team at the expense at world champion Zhu Lin, and after slipping down the world rankings to seven.

China are gunning for at least three out of the five badminton golds, and defeat in the women's singles is not considered an option by team officials.

The 33-year-old now plays South Korea's Jun Jae-Youn who defeated Ireland's Chloe Magee 2-0.

China's closest rivals breezed past their opponents on the second day of competition.

Denmark's sensation Tine Rasmussen, seeded six, considered one of the few European women capable of derailing the Chinese, defeated Lithuania's Akvile Stapusaityte 2-0.

She plays Indonesian underdog Maria Kristin Yulianti who had a 2-0 win over Spain's Yoana Martinez.

Hong Kong's fourth seed Wang Chen, determined to climb onto the podium at her last Olympics after reaching the quarter-finals in Athens, thrashed Slovakia's Eva Sladekova 2-0.

She takes on India's Saina Nehwal who defeated the Ukraine's Larysa Gryga.

Malaysian champion Wong Mew Choo steamrolled Kerry Lee Harrington 2-0, the eighth seed taking just 18 minutes to down the South African.

Wong, one of Malaysia's great hopes of causing an upset after winning this year's China Open, now plays Bulgaria's Petya Nedelcheva who walked over Hadia Hosny from Egypt 2-0.

Pi Hongyan, who moved from China to play in France six years ago, enjoyed a warm home coming from the raucous Chinese crowd on her way to victory over Peru's Claudia Rivero 2-0.

The fifth seed faces Japan's Eriko Hirose who downed Vietnam's Le Ngoc Nguyen by the same scoreline.

Another China export, Xu Huaiwen, playing at her second Olympics for Germany, easily dispensed with Findland's Anu Nieminen 2-0.—AFP