Chinese badminton player Lin Dan. (Photo : Getty Images)
World third-ranked badminton player Lin Dan survived a tough test in his Thomas Cup debut this year, leading the China national team to a 5-0 sweep of France in a group stage encounter of the 2016 Thomas & Uber Cup tournament held at the Kunshan Sports Centre in Jiangsu, China on Monday.
The 32-year-old Lin, who is competing for the eighth time in the said badminton team tournament, rested in China's first match of the group stage competitions against Mexico, whom the national team also defeated with a score of 5-0 on Sunday, Xinhuanet reported.
With the seeming rust, Lin struggled to break away from Lucas Claerbout in the second singles game. However, he ultimately beat the lowly French shuttler in three sets, 20-22, 21-14, and 21-8, to give his team a 3-0 advantage during the contest.
"I didn't expect to win this match in such a tough way," Lin admitted to reporters after the match, via the Asia Times. "But it doesn't mean that I played badly, this match will help me to get fit and find my rhythm."
"This time I am the second singles, no matter which position I play, I will do my best," he added.
The former world no. 1 is said to be aiming to reclaim the Thomas Cup title China won back in 2014 during the tourney's New Delhi edition.
Current world no. 1 Chen Long, Lin's compatriot, walked over his first singles game rival Thomas Rouxel, 21-9, 21-12, while the doubles partnership of Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan dominated the French duo of Ronan Labar and Gaetan Mittelheisser, 21-16, 22-20, in the second game.
After Lin's win made it 3-0 for the Chinese, Li Junhui and Zheng Siwei thrashed Bastian Kersaudy and Julien Maio in the mixed doubles fourth game, 21-9 and 21-11 before world no. 6 Tian Houwei dispatched the challenge of Lucas Corvee in the third and final singles game, 21-17, 21-12, to pull off the five-game sweep.
The Chinese will face the Japanese national team, the tournament's defending champions, in their next group stage match, which is actually a no-bearing one given that both China and Japan have already advanced to the quarterfinals after registering 2-0 win-loss records.
