KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 — Denmark’s Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen got off to a good start today as they tried to end the year with their fourth straight BWF World Superseries Finals men’s doubles crown.

Other Danes also defeated their opponents on the first day of the season-ending tournament at the Cheras Badminton Stadium in the Malaysian capital.

Boe and Mogensen began their campaign with a 21-16, 21-19 Group B victory over South Koreans Ko Sung-Hyun and Lee Yong-Dae.

The former world number one men’s doubles, who have dropped to number three, have not won a Superseries title this year, but said they were hopeful of breaking the drought despite stiff opposition.

“They (Ko and Lee) have not been playing together as pair since October, but they are still one of the best in the world,” Mogensen said.

“We will be up against a skilful Japanese pair tomorrow (Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa) so we will have to prepare for that,” he added.

Endo and Hayakawa also opened their campaign with a victory, beating compatriots Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Noriyasu Hirata 19-21, 21-19, 21-12.

In the men’s singles, Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen defeated Thai veteran Boonsak Ponsana 21-19, 13-21, 21-11.

And women’s pair Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark beat Thailand’s Duanganong Aroonkesorn-Kunchala Voravichitchaikul 21-16, 21-17.

Meanwhile, in Group A, China’s Wang Shixian beat Taiwan’s Tai Tzu Ying 21-16, 23-21.

In the women’s doubles, Chinese teammates Ma Jin and Tang Jinhua beat Indonesia’s Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth and Rizki Amelia Pradipta 21-3, 22-20.

Men’s world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, who is also seeking a record fourth BWF World Superseries Finals crown, will play later Wednesday in Group A.

The two top pairs of groups A and B will play in the crossover semi-finals of the $500,000 championship on Saturday.

The finals bring together the top eight performers in each category based on points earned from the 12 Superseries tournaments.— AFP