'I told them to keep the shuttle in the back of the court' Hong Kong players mastered the wind to breeze through their opening round matches at the world championships. Ninth seed Ng Wei completed a routine day's work for the SAR's shuttlers at Anaheim's Arrowhead Pond by downing New Zealand's John Moody 15-12, 15-4 to advance to a second-round meeting with Canadian world number 23 Andrew Dabeka. Ng's victory came after Hong Kong players had recorded straightforward wins in the women's singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. Hong Kong coach Chan Chi-choi, who had expressed fears about the unusually strong drafts in the competition arena on the eve of the tournament, said the team had adapted to the conditions well. 'I told them that they should try to keep the shuttle in the back of the court in the corners and it worked well,' he said. 'We are satisfied with our start. But the tournament will get much harder in the second round.' Despite a slow start, Ng soon got the better of world number 46 Moody, pulling the Kiwi all over the court with some clever variation and deft work at the net. Moody had started brightly but faded rapidly after losing the first game, Ng racing into a 7-0 lead that he never looked like relinquishing. Women's doubles duo Li Wing-mui and Louisa Koon Wai-chee started the victory roll for Hong Kong by outclassing Iceland's Sara Jonsdottir and Ragna Ingolfsdottir 15-13, 15-5 in 39 minutes. That was followed by an easy victory in the women's singles for Yip Pui-yin, who had too much guile and speed for Spaniard Laura Molina, ranked 16 places below her Hong Kong opponent at 92nd. Yip waltzed through the first game 11-1 and was on course for a similarly one-sided score in the second, leading 7-0 when Molina retired with a knee injury. 'I think she was just too fast for her,' said Chan. Albertus Susanto Njoto and Li Wing-mui teamed up in the mixed doubles for Hong Kong's other win, downing Poland's Michal Logosz and Kamila Augustyn 17-15, 15-6. China, who are eyeing an unprecedented clean sweep of the five titles on offer in California, had a quiet opening day with most of their big guns handed byes into the second round. Seventh seed Chen Hong indicated that he could be in the medal reckoning, though, with a silky display against Poland's Przemyslaw Wacha, winning 15-7, 15-8. It was a performance that delighted a large contingent of Chinese fans in the crowd of around 1,000. Chen's win keeps him on course for a quarter-final meeting with evergreen Danish former world number one Peter Gade, seeded three. Gade, a runner-up at the 2001 World Championships in Seville, has come closer than any other European to breaking Asia's stranglehold on badminton's major international silverware in recent years. Now fully recovered from a career-threatening knee injury, Gade said he was determined to try and become only the third non-Asian winner of the men's singles crown in the 28-year history of the world championships. 'It's a big responsibility - to represent Europe against the Asians,' Gade said after turning on the style in a 15-0, 15-1 demolition of Guatemala's Pedro Yang. 'It's great for the sport to have these confrontations between Europe and Asia. Since my injury it's been small steps at a time for the past three years. But I've been fighting to come back and now I'm third in the world and I feel my form is better than ever.' England's miserable start to the championships continued when mixed doubles top seeds Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms were forced to withdraw. After being held up in London amid the transport chaos that gripped Heathrow last week, Robertson twisted an ankle in his first training session and was left in agony. The withdrawal of the Olympic silver medallists leaves China's Zhang Jun and Gao Ling as the top-seeded duo in the draw, bolstering the mainland's dream of a medal sweep.