The Australian Badminton team have kicked off the individual events with a number of comfortable wins, as they look to progress strongly through the pool rounds.

Angela Yu enjoyed back-to-back success in the opening rounds of the morning session, comfortably winning with teammate Tram Phan in a straightforward mixed doubles game, before a closer contest in the women’s doubles, where she teamed up with Kaitlyn Ea.

“In the mixed, it was easier to play as there weren’t that many long rallies, so in the women’s doubles it took a bit of getting used to clearing the shuttle on one side as it was very different to the other,” said Yu.

“Once we figured that out in the middle of the game it was ok.”

Meanwhile Gronya Somerville and Wendy Chen opened their women’s doubles campaign with a comfortable win against Pakistan’s Shahzad and Siddique.

Rounding out the action in the morning was Nathan Tang’s men’s singles match against Sammy Sikoyo of Kenya, easily won 2 – 0.

A lively and at times entertaining match, Tang shined on the showcourt – in front of his parents for the first time – as Sikoyo dived and cartwheeled at times to retrieve the shuttle, making for some highly entertaining rallies.

The afternoon session opened with Somerville returning to the court, this time with Lin Ying Xiang in the mixed doubles event, making light work of their match against the pair from the Falklands.

Lin then returned to the court an hour later, this time in his men’s singles match against Malta’s Matthew Abela, this time in a tightly contested match that nonetheless saw Lin secure a 2 – 0 win.

“It feels good to be back on court again… I think I played ok as well today so I’m quite happy with my performance,” said Lin.

“I just need to give everything I have on the court… as long as I put everything that I have on the court, I’m happy with that.”

However, Australia’s reigning national champion Jacob Schueler unfortunately fell in his opening men’s singles campaign, at the hands of the higher ranked Jamaican, Sam Ricketts.

Competing with a vocal and energetic crowd, who came out in masses to support Ricketts, Schueler fought valiantly, narrowly missing out in two close games.

The Australian competitors will return to court on Thursday, starting with Tang who will have to overcome sixth seed Englishman Toby Penty, if he wishes to qualify for the last 16.

Badminton Individual Events Results – Wednesday 3 August

Mixed Doubles

Tran Phan/Angela Yu (AUS) vs Dwight Joshua/Soraya March (FLK)

2 – 0 (21 – 2; 21 – 5)

Lin Ying Xiang/Gronya Somerville (AUS) vs Douglas Clark/Cheryl March (FLK)

2 – 0 (21 – 4; 21 – 3)

Women’s Doubles

Angela Yu/Kaitlyn Ea (AUS) vs Nabeeha Abdul/Nabaaha Abdul (MDV)

2 – 0 (21 – 13; 21 – 15) 

Wendy Chen/Gronya Somerville (AUS) vs Mahoor Shahzad/Ghazala Siddique (PAK)

2 – 0 (21 – 10; 21 – 13)

Men’s Singles

Nathan Tang (AUS) vs Sammy Sikoyo (KEN)

2 – 0 (21 – 10; 21 – 13)

Lin Ying Xiang (AUS) vs Mathew Abela (MLT)

2 – 0 (21 – 16; 21 – 9)

Sam Ricketts (JAM) vs Jacob Schueler (AUS)

0 – 2 (21 – 19; 21 – 15)