Lee Jae Jin and Ra Kyung Min opened the Korean's Group 1A account with their 15-11, 15-10 mixed doubles win over Thailand's Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam.

Seo Yoon Hee took the women's singles rubber 13-10, 11-8, while Kim Dong Moon and Ha Tae Kwon cruised to a 15-2, 15-2 victory in the men's doubles.

In the women's doubles Lee Kyung Won and Lee Hyo Jung proved too powerful for Saralee and Sujitra Ekmongkolpaisarn, winning 15-5, 15-5.

Their only disappointment came in the men's singles where Athens Olympic silver medalist Shon Seung Mo lost a hard-fought rubber 15-5, 8-15, 16-17 to Boonsak Polsana.

South Korea, who have won the prestigious Sudirman Cup three times, meet England today.

England, meanwhile, were unable to capitalize on a good start to their opening match with Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms downing Danish duo Jens Eriksen and Mette Schjoldager 15-13, 15-9 in the mixed doubles.

Kenneth Jonassen overwhelmed Aamir Ghaffar 15-5, 15-0 in the men's singles while Tine Rasmussen labored to an 11-4, 11-13, 11-7 win over Tracey Hallam.

Eriksen teamed with Martin Lundgaard to sweep the men's doubles 15-12, 15-11, but England battled back in the women's doubles with Emms and Donna Kellogg notching up a 15-5, 15-9 win.

Danish coach Steen Pedersen said he was pleased with his players' performances and the raucous support offered by the legion of Danish fans at Beijing's Capital Gymnasium.

``We are very happy to get a good start in the Sudirman Cup and we got it today. It was a close match as we had expected,'' he said.

``Since we've beaten England several times in the past five or six years, we had everything to lose today so I'm proud of my players for standing up and producing a good performance.''

Denmark, who have never won the Sudirman Cup, meet Thailand today.

Only the eight teams in Group, which is split into two sub-groups, have a shot at the title in the ninth edition of this tournament which is payed every two years.

Mia Audina Tjiptawan, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist for Holland and the 1996 runner-up for Indonesia in Atlanta, helped the Dutch get their campaign off to a winning start.

Audina, 25, beat Russia's Ella Karachkova 13-10, 11-0 in their opening rubber and returned to finish the job in partnership with Jurgen Wouters in the mixed doubles.

Although the Dutch dropped the men's doubles in straight games in the second contest, they went on to score a 4-1 win in Group 2A.

``I'm already satisfied,'' said team manager Martijn van Dooremalen.

``That win means already we are guaranteed to stay up.''

But Malaysia and Taiwan will be tough opponents, especially since players like Chris and Lotte Bruil retired.

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