China's men and women's badminton teams took the first step on the opening day of the Total BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2016 with a strong start at the Kunshan Sports Center in Jiangsu, China on Sunday.

Current men's singles world No. 1 Chen Long got the better of the 25-year-old Mexican Lino Munoz with a two-straight-set 21-12, 21-7 victory in the first game that lasted 37 minutes to lead the China men's team to rout Mexico's with a dominating 5-0 sweep, according to Xinhua.

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"I felt a little nervous in the first match. I am happy to be the first singles for our team," said Chen, who was a bronze medalist in the men's singles event in the 2012 London Olympics.

BWF world no. 6 Tian Houwei and world no. 53 Qiao Bin both emerged victorious in their respective men's singles matches, while men's doubles pair Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen crushed Mexican tandem Job Castillo and Lino Munoz 21-3, 21-9. Chinese duo Hong Wei and Zheng Siwei also beat Lopez Andres and Luis Ramon Garrido 21-12, 21-15.

Meanwhile, Thomas Cup's defending champions Japan overpowered France with a dominating 5-0 triumph without Kenichi Tago and Kento Momota, who are on suspension due to a gambling scandal.

The South Korean men's squad routed the German team by winning all the five games in Group C. They will face the England team next.

In the Uber Cup competition, China took the pleasure of another 5-0 victory over Malaysia, with women's singles BWF third-ranked Li Xuerui smashing Malaysia's Jing Yi Tee with a 21-11, 21-13 win. World No. 4 Wang Yihan and world No. 13 Sun Yu eased past their respective Malaysian opponents win two straight sets easy wins.

In the women's doubles, Tang Yuanting and Yu Yang and the tandem Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei both won their respective matches.

TagsChen Long, thomas & uber cup, bwf 2016, bwf rankings, wang yihan, Li Xuerui