Prince Dahal was nowhere close to the throne, unfortunately.

Reigning badminton Olympic men’s singles champion Viktor Axelsen was absolutely regal in his return to the Games stage, beating his Nepalese opponent 21-8, 21-6 in Group P play on Saturday (27 July).

Axelsen won in a mere 28 minutes.

“I think today was a good start for me you know, with all due respect,” Axelsen told Olympics.com. “Prince and I, maybe the level of tournaments we usually play there’s a little bit of a difference.

“But today I really wanted to come in and set a high pace from the start and really get a feel of the whole and I think that I managed to do so.”

The Dane won the gold medal at Tokyo 2020 in the Covid bubble without fans, his tearful emotional outburst after the final becoming one of the most memorable moments of those postponed Games.

Axelsen’s next match is on Monday, when he plays Israel’s Misha Zilberman who he should also expectedly dominate.

“It feels amazing,” Axelsen said. “Last time there was no spectators and to play in an arena like this, such a beautiful arena. So many supporters on day one – amazing, and I’m so thankful for this experience.

“To be honest right now, I just want to get home. It’s very late, get something to eat and then tomorrow I have a day off so I can prepare well for the next challenge. I’m just very, very happy to have started here.”

Elsewhere on the first day, the Chinese won all seven matches across the five disciplines without dropping a single game, led by the men’s singles top seed Shi Yuqi who outclassed Soren Opti 21-5, 21-7 in less than half an hour.

Thailand’s eight seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn defeated Georges Julien Paul 21-9, 21-12 while Kevin Cordon, the Guatemalan who reached the semi-finals at Tokyo 2020 out of nowhere, suffered his first loss here 21-8, 22-20 to Lakshya Sen.

In the women’s singles, Nos. 5 and 6 Yamaguchi Akane and He Bing Jiao, respectively, got the job done in straight sets against Thet Htar Thuzar and Keisha Fatimah Azzahra.

There was a notable upset in the women’s doubles as the Danish duo of Maiken Fruergaard/Sara Thygesen stunned the No. 2 seeds from the Republic of Korea, Baek Hana/Lee Sohee 21-18, 9-21, 21-14.

All the results in detail can be found here.