WUHAN, China - With a comfortable 2-0 win, Danish veteran Peter Gade lead his country cruise past underdog South Africa in the opener of the Thomas Cup on Sunday.

In the first group stage encounter of these team championships, Denmark made a clean sweep by beating South Africa in all the five matches in straight sets.

The first singles Gade met little resistance from his lower-ranking opponent Jacob Malieka before winning 21-7, 21-6.

"It's nice to get going, I'm pretty happy about my game. Today's opponent is at lower level. I'm still building up towards London, hopefully getting better and better," said Gade, who welcomed his ninth Thomas Cup journey.

"This time is my last Thomas Cup, hopefully I can get a medal here."

Ranked world No 5, Gade will be 36 at the end of the year. Last year at the Sudirman Cup, Gade hit his form by leading Denmark into the final against China. However, he is finding tough to sustain a challenge on the world badminton circuit this year.

In 2012, Gade suffered a low tide, having won nothing but always being knocked out. Last month at the European championships, the highest-ranking European player was stopped in the early stage.

The former All England champion, who will retire after the London Olympic Games, said he was paying price for pushing his body to the limits last year.

"The last part of 2011 is really tough on me, a lot of tournaments and a lot of tough matches. My body is paying price. Now since January, I'm building up towards the Olympics, the tournaments from January to London Olympics don't matter," said Gade.

"Of course I want to do well at the Thomas Cup, but I'm still building up towards the London Olympics."