Japan’s Momota swats aside Pochtarov and talk of pressure

Japan's Kento Momota made a blistering start to his badminton World Championships campaign yesterday - then brushed off any talk of pressure.

The explosive 23-year-old is the man in form coming into the Nanjing showpiece and is tipped by many to win the tournament.

After swatting aside Ukraine's Artem Pochtarov 21-13, 21-12, Momota said: "I don't take the attention at home and abroad as pressure, but instead motivation.

"The first match was an easy win. I feel very good now and hope I can win all the matches. I want to win," Xinhua news agency quoted the sixth seed as saying.

Momota plays Luka Wraber, the 136th-ranked Austrian, today.

In the women's draw, world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan eased through in her opener to underline her status as the woman to beat. The top seed was never really in trouble against Wendy Chen of Australia, winning 21-10, 21-16 to reach the third round.

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Similarly untroubled were former No. 1 Saina Nehwal of India, the 10th seed, and seventh seed Carolina Marin of Spain.

Ratchanok Intanon survived a major scare as the fourth seed battled back from the brink of a shock early exit.

A lacklustre Ratchanok went down 21-16 in the first game and was trailing for much of the second, down 19-16 at one stage.

But the former world No. 1 stormed back to squeeze through the second game 22-20 and then raced away in the decider 21-10 after a nervy 76 minutes of action. - AFP