The 28-year-old second seed ousted Takuma Ueda of Japan 21-11, 21-14 at the Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium.

Malaysia's top seed Lee Chong Wei, who earned a third Olympic silver medal after losing to Chen in the Rio 2016 final, also advanced as he bids to defend his title.

He proved too strong for Kenta Nishimoto of Japan, 22-20, 21-12.

Two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan was another to progress after defeating a Japanese opponent.

The Chinese player, the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 champion, knocked out Kanta Tsuneyama 21-17, 21-15.

In the women's competition, Chinese Taipei's top seed and world number one Tai Tzu-ying marched through to the last eight.

She proved to be too strong for Vietnam's Vũ Thị Trang as she won 21-10, 21-14.

India's Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu also booked her place thanks to a 21-14, 21-15 win over Japan's Aya Ohori.

Japan did enjoy some success as second seed Akane Yamaguchi knocked out Hsu Ya-ching of Chinese Taipei 21-18, 22-20.

Also ongoing are the European Badminton Championships at the Sydbank Arena in Kolding in Denmark.

There was a shock in the women's competition as England's Fontaine Mica Chapman knocked out Spain's second seed Beatriz Corrales 21-13, 21-19.

Her compatriot Carolina Marín, the Olympic champion, had no such problems as she beat Turkey's Özge Bayrak 21-9, 24-22.

In the men's draw, Denmark's home favourite Viktor Axelsen progressed as the Olympic bronze medallist beat Russia's Vladimir Malkov 21-9, 21-9.

England's second seed Ravi Ouseph beat Israel's Misha Zilberman 21-14, 21-13.