BWF Badminton World Tour Finals 2022: Day 1 - Viktor Axelsen, Loh Kean Yew, Yamaguchi Akane open with wins; Chen Yu Fei, Chia/Soh get off on wrong foot - As it happened

Badminton's grand season finale, the BWF World Tour Finals 2022 are under way in Bangkok, Thailand.

Group action involving the tour's top eight players/pairs across the five events of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles takes place at Nimibutr Arena on Wednesay, 7 December 2022.

Our daily preview and order of play can be found here.

Olympics.com will live updates throughout the day from the Thai capital, which you can re-live below.

All times below are Thailand Standard Time (UTC/GMT +7 hours). Most recent updates at the top.

22:37 - Zheng Si Wei/Huang Yi Qiong dominate to wrap up Day 1

In the day's last match, the Olympic and world championships mixed doubles silver medallists have started the Tour Finals with a bang, cruising to victory in 25 minutes (21-8, 21-9).

And with that, signing off from Bangkok.

22:10 - Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik slip up

Malaysia's first-ever gold medallists at a world championships or an Olympic Games went down 21-12, 21-15 to the Daddies, Mohamad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan without putting up much of a fight.

Said Setiawan with a big smile, "We just did our best today. Today we tried to attack in front first. It's a bit windy here".

21:21 - Naraoka Kodai, Hoki/Kobayashi make it 3-0 for Japan

Following Yamaguchi's lead, Tour Finals debutant Naraoka defeated H S Prannoy in three (21-12, 9-21, 21-17) for his first win while Hoki Takuro/Kobayashi Yugo dropped Malaysia's Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi 21-19, 21-16 in men's doubles.

Naraoka faces the ultimate test in Axelsen on Thursday while "Hoki-Koba"has the Indonesian duo of Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto.

19:00 - 'Big Axe' too much for Lu Guang Zu

The BWF men's player of the year showed why he is worthy of the honour, hammering Lu 21-13, 21-11.

Lu got as close as 6-6 in the first game but from then on, Axelsen cruised, never falling behind for a clinical 39-minute victory. In the second set, the reigning Olympic and world champion jumped out to a 6-0 lead and pried open a 16-5 advantage at one point.

Axelsen plays Japan's Naraoka Kodai on Thursday.

18:43 - Yamaguchi 'glad' on the W

"I always thought the first match was important so I’m glad I won today.

The drift here is really different depending on which end you’re at. I wanted to make sure to cut down on the mistakes, be as accurate as possible".

18:26 - Loh on 1st win in Bangkok: "So far so good"

"Definitely happy to be on the winning side. I think all of us are trying to adapt to the conditions of the first match of the tournament. Even during practice it was quite drifty as well.

"Whether it’s group stages or not I think every win is important. Other than the result itself it’s also for personal confidence.

"So far so good".

It was Loh's first victory over Chou since the HYLO Open in November 2021.

17:49 - Loh Kean Yew downs CTC

The 2021 world champion from Singapore stays strong to get past the steely Chou Tien Chen 21-15, 21-17.

Loh pulled away from 3-3 in the first game and never fell behind the rest of the way against the veteran from Chinese Taipei.

17:03 - Yamaguchi Akane wins her opener

The Japanese world champion defeats An Seyoung 21-18, 21-16.

The world No. 1 is now 10-5 for her career against the 20-year-old from the Republic of Korea. Yamaguchi won the last four points to win in 42 minutes and will play Chen on Thursday.

15:44 - Anthony Sinisuka Ginting roars back vs Jonatan Christie

In the mouth-watering all-Indonesian clash, Ginting comes from behind to take the match 6-21, 21-10, 21-9.

Here's what Ginting had to say: "Christie was playing so well in the beginning but in the second game and third game I tried to manage it well. I tried to be calm and not rush. I think that was the key of the match today.

"Both of us know our kind of play. I think because of the condition on the court today - the drift was kind of fast, especially on the far side.

"I think everything is going well. Christie is not an easy opponent. He knows my weakness but I'm happy with my performance today".

15:30 - Chen on Tunjung: "She played very well"

"Today being the first day, I couldn’t play the way I wanted to. I couldn’t control the shuttle during the game and because of that I couldn’t control the opponent.

"She played very well today".

On Thursday, Chen will face Yamaguchi Akane in a rematch of this summer's world championships final.

15:22 - Tunjung on beating Chen

"Chen Yu Fei was clearly not good in the first game. So I just tried to keep pressuring her. I didn’t want to think too much about the result. I just wanted to give it my best.

"It’s not a big win for me - yet. I still have two more matches including one with Akane Yamaguchi. So I want to focus on the match tomorrow".

15:02 - Chen Yu Fei stunned by Gregoria Mariska Tunjung

The reigning Olympic champion and world championships runner-up is tripped up in her first match here in Group A by the Indonesian, going down 16-21, 21-14, 9-21.

It was Chen's first loss to Tunjung since the 2017 Indonesian Open.

14:07 - He Bing Jiao tops Tai Tzu Ying

Earlier in the first singles match of the day He Bing Jiao defeated Tai Tzu Ying 21-19, 21-19 in women's Group A.

Here's what He had to say after victory:

"I had a big lead (in the second game). I don't usually have a big lead against Tai. It was unusual".

13:18 - Chen/Jia, Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai get things going

Our first winners of the day are Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapisree Taerattanachai (21-6, 25-23) who seized an all-Thai affair against Supak Jomkoh/Supissara Paewsampran in Group B of mixed doubles.

And in another clash of compatriots, this one from the Republic of China, world champions Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan went three games (21-18, 17-21, 21-14) to edge Zhang Su Xian/Zheng Yu in Group B of women's doubles.

11:00 - Sawasdee from Bangkok!

Action has begun at Nimibutr Arena.