BEIJING // The defending Olympic champion Zhang Ning of China recovered from a shaky start to defeat Thailand's Salakjit Ponsana in three sets. Zhang, seeded second in the women's singles, defeated Ponsana 21-23, 21-17, 21-7 to advance to the third round of the tournament at the Beijing University of Technology. "I wasn't too worried after losing the first set," said Zhang, who had a first-round bye. "I've played her before so I knew what to expect." She is only seventh in the world rankings and has struggled with injuries this year but was picked over 2007 world champion Zhu Lin, who is third in the world rankings. Zhang, 33, looked rusty in the first set but quickly took control of the match with smashes that were too powerful for her opponent. Zhang will face the South Korean Jun Jae-youn next, who posted a 21-12, 21-14 win over Chloe Magee of Ireland. China won three out of five gold medals in badminton at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and are expected to dominate on home soil. Today was the first day China's players were in action and the capacity crowd was in full voice in support of their players. Xie Xingfang, top-seeded in the women's singles, plays later today against Cheng Sha-chieh of Taiwan. In other matches, sixth-seeded Tine Rasmussen of Denmark coasted to a 21-6, 21-8 win over Akvile Stapusaityte of Lithuania. Fifth-seeded Pi Hongyan of France defeated the Peruvian Claudia Rivero 21-6, 21-9. In a men's singles first-round match, the South Korean Park Sung-hwan defeated the Canadian Andrew Dabeka 21-11, 21-11. Lin Dan of China is top-seeded in the men's singles and will play his first match in the second round tomorrow against unseeded Ng Wei of Hong Kong.
*AP
