GLASGOW (AFP) - Favourites Singapore made a commanding start to the team event of the table tennis at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Thursday with both the men and women recording convincing victories.
In the preliminary round on the event's opening day, the men beat Ghana 3-0, while the women, also top seeds, overcame Sri Lanka with the same scoreline.
Hu Li and Ning Gao beat Derek Abrefa and Felix Lartey in the doubles and Gao and Jian Zhan beat Emmanuel Commey and Lartey with each match finishing 3-0.
In the other match in Pool A, Sri Lanka, who face Singapore later on Thursday, picked up a comfortable 3-0 win against Seychelles
Singapore's women, with top seed Feng Tianwei not involved, produced a similarly dominant display against the Sri Lankans.
Ye Lin and Yu Mengyu had a tough start against Hansani Piumila and Ishara Madurangi, winning the first two games 13-11 and 12-10 before taking the final game 11-7 in the doubles rubber.
Isabelle Li beat Madurangi and Yu overcame Erandi Warusawithana with 3-0 scorelines to give Singapore a perfect start.
They are back in action later on Thursday when they meet Northern Ireland in their final Pool A match.
Malaysia's women recorded a convincing 3-0 victory against Papua New Guinea, dropping only 20 points across the nine games played in the three matches.
Their next match in Pool F is against Canada, who secured a 3-0 win against Jamaica.
In Pool B, Australia, who face hosts Scotland later on Thursday, produced a commanding performance to beat Guyana 3-0 and in Pool C England beat Ghana 3-0 and Trinidad and Tobago beat Tanzania with the same score.
India's men rested top player Sharath Kamal but they still eased past Vanuatu with a 3-0 scoreline in Pool D, where Nigeria also beat Kenya 3-0.
New Zealand started with a 3-0 victory against Vanuatu and they face Wales, who recorded a 3-0 win over Mauritius in their opening game, later on Thursday.
With the rest of the men's opening round of matches taking place on Thursday, among the early results, Nigeria beat Bangladesh 3-0 in Pool D, where Mauritius picked up a 3-0 victory against Kiribati.
In Pool E, Canada beat Tanzania 3-0 and hosts Scotland beat Uganda by the same margin.
