Badminton: Chinese duo Wang Yihan and Wang Xin advance with ease

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The big guns in the women's singles entered the action for the first time on the third morning of Badminton competition at London 2012.

And there was little to trouble either of the top two seeds as Chinese pair Wang Yihan and Wang Xin both enjoyed comfortable wins to reach the last 16.

In a session part watched by Princess Anne, top seed Wang Yihan saw off Canada's Michele Li, winning 21-8 21-16 in 41 minutes.

Wang Xin was even more impressive, ending the campaign of American Wang Rena with a 21-8 21-6 win inside 27 minutes.

Although the first round is following a round-robin format, both players go straight through to the knockout phase as their groups comprised only two people.

With China also boasting third seed Li Xuerui, the possibility of an all-Chinese final looks strong.

Wang Xin said: "Everyone who comes to the Olympic Games comes in search of the gold medal.

"It doesn't matter if I am playing foreign players or members of my own team. We are all playing to fulfil our own dream."

Wang Rena admitted she could not live with the quality of her opponent.

When asked why she had struggled, the American said: "Oh my God, definitely speed and quality of shot."

Men's singles eighth seed Kenichi Tago of Japan crashed out of the competition after a shock loss to Sri Lanka's Niluka Karunaratne.

Karunaratne, the world number 48, won 21-18 21-16 in 46 minutes and Tago admitted he did not know what hit him.

He said: "It felt like I woke up from sleep and the next thing I know I had already lost. I don't know what happened."

In the women's doubles, second seeds Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei beat Japan's Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna 21-16 21-17.

The morning's most notable European success saw Danish mixed doubles fourth seeds Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen come through a thriller against Poland's Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba 21-9 14-21 21-17.

PA