England's men and women romp through European openers

ENGLAND'S men and women kicked off their European Team Championships campaigns in emphatic style with two 5-0 wins in Warsaw.

EMPHATIC START: Rajiv Ouseph is tested by Lithuanian number one Kestutis Nacivkas but England's men and women both start with 5-0 wins in Warsaw (Getty Images)

The men won all five matches in straight games against Lithuania with Carl Baxter beating Klaudijus Kasinskis for the loss of 15 points and Harry Wright losing just 13 against Edgaras Slusnys.

England number one Rajiv Ouseph, who won his third consecutive national title in Manchester last week, had more problems against Kestutis Navickas before eventually prevailing 21-19, 24-22.

The doubles pairings found the going easy though with Robert Blair and Chris Adcock winning 21-12, 21-7 and Anthony Clark and Chris Langridge winning 21-7, 21-5.

The women were nearly as comprehensive with Elisabeth Cann, Helen Davies and Rachel Howard all winning in straight games.

And while Heather Olver and Mariana Agathangelou beat Andrea Zvorc and Petra Petranovic 21-11, 21-12, Jenny Wallwork and Gabrielle White dropped the first game against Matea Cica and Stasa Poznanovic before winning 15-21, 21-14, 21-13.

Of the other home nations, Wales' men lost 3-2 to Ukraine while their women thumped Slovakia 4-1.

Scotland's women also went down 3-2 to Ukraine.