Indian women shuttlers drubbed lowly Macau 5-0 to get off to a flying start in the Uber Cup (preliminaries) Asia Zone badminton championship being played at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Tuesday.
National champion Aparna Popat was stretched a bit by Long Ying in the first game of the opening rubber but the top ranked Indian used all her experience to take the tie 13-12, 11-3 in about 20 minutes and set the tempo for those to follow.
B R Meenakshi then thrashed Lei Sao Chi 11-1, 11-0 and Trupti Murgunde blanked Mak Ka Lei 11-0, 11-0 to give India a match winning 3-0 lead.
The two doubles matches, theoretically dead rubbers, were also one sided affairs with top Indian pair of Shruti Kurien and Jwala Gutta requiring just 15 minutes to pack off Long Ying and Pun Si 15-4, 15-5.
Experienced Manjusha Kanwar then teamed up with Fatima Nazneen to beat Pun Ut Wa and Cheong Lok Was 15-8, 15-5 to complete the formalities.
India has been placed in Group 'A' along with strong contenders Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia and needs to beat atleast two of them to entertain any chance of making it to the last four.
Only top three teams from the championship would qualify for the Uber Cup finals to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia from May 16-22.
