IRELAND won their opening group five match at the World team badminton championships in Glasgow yesterday against Peru, the Pan American bronze medal lists.

The South Americans, coached for the past two years by the 1993 world doubles title winner, Zhou Lei, put up stiff opposition before Ireland took the verdict 4-1. Sonya McGinn, in her first serious competitive outing since a winter injury, came back from 3-5 down to take her first game against Lorena Zuloaga 11-5. She lost a 7-2 lend in the second game before eventually clawing her way back to a 12-9 victory.

Ireland's Bruce Topping, troubled by high shots to the back of court from Mario Carulla, was Ireland's only loser, going down 10-15, 7-15.