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winning start to world cup qualifiers for japan and australia. the netherlands comfortably beat croatia. meanwhile in golf, randhawa takes early lead at first indian masters. soccer japan japan began their 2010 world cup qualifying campaign on wednesday in saitama against thailand. under the guidance of new coach takeshi okada, who took over after ivica osim's health problems late last year, japan are in search of a place at their fourth successive world cup finals. yasuhito endo's 21st minute free-kick was a perfect start to japan's journey to south africa. thailand replied immediately, though, through england-based forward teeratep winothai's dipping shot, suggesting japan may not have an easy passage. indeed, japan had to wait until the second half to re-establish their lead, thailand's narongchai vachiraban unwittingly contributed to yoshito okubo's goal, japan's only goal on the night from open play. vachiraban had no way of making amends, either, when he was sent off ten minutes later following a second yellow card. and japan capitalised, substitute front man seiichiro maki scored the hosts' third set-piece goal of the night as japan ran out 4-1 winners. soccer australia australia had home advantage in the form of melbourne's telstra dome for their opening 2010 world cup qualifier on wednesday. dutchman pim virbeek was hoping to make a winning start as coach of the socceroos in the asian section against qatar. his side were ahead after just ten minutes. brett emerton floated in a cross from the right and striker josh kennedy rose above the qatari defence. tim cahill doubled australia's lead in the 17th minute. luke wilkshire curled in a corner and the everton midfielder nodded the ball home. the visitors were struggling to make any sort of impression and mark bresciano virtually ended the match as a contest in the 33rd minute. the palermo player was picked out by scott mcdonald on the far side with a neat pass. qatar looked more relaxed in the second half and mesaad al hamad almost scored from close range shortly before the hour mark. but it finished 3-0 - australia travel to china for their next group a match in march, while qatar take on iraq. soccer croatia (no access croatia or the netherlands) croatia hosted the netherlands in a friendly international in split on wednesday - a decent test for both qualifiers ahead of this summer's european championships. the dutch were depleted by injury, but that did not seem to matter much as they took the lead after just nine minutes. defender johnny heitinga was the man on the end of rafael van der vaart's free-kick. croatia went two goals behind eight minutes before half-time. klaas-jan huntelaar found himself in space the six-yard box and managed to nutmeg home 'keeper stipe pletikosa. the croatians improved slightly after the break and edwin van der sar was forced to make a smart save from a free-kick. but celtic striker jan vennegoor of hesselink wrapped up an encouraging 3-0 victory for the visitors with a minute left on the clock. golf india it's a first visit to india for the european tour this week - the inaugural indian masters, co-sanctioned by the asian tour, attracted the likes of ernie els to the delhi golf club. thursday was in no way memorable for the south african, though, his near miss in dubai last week was followed by an opening round 75 here, that included a nine on the 18th, with two penalty shots thrown in. thomas bjorn fared infinitely better, the dane's reservations about the delhi course were forgotten with his four-under 68 to lie tied for fourth with india's own shiv kapur. new zealand open champion richard finch of england is a shot better off, he shares second place with ireland's in-form damien mcgrane. but to the delight of the locals it's home hero jyoti randhawa who leads after day one. randhawa's success was built on his magnificent approach shots to the two par fives on the back nine - this at the 14th resulting in an eagle three. and then once again at the 18th, the indian took on the longest hole on the course with great success. randhawa ended with another eagle and a 65 to open a two-shot lead after the first round.