of China was sent crashing out of the world badminton championships here Wednesday losing in a stunning upset to unknown Hong Kong player Agus Hariyanto. Ji, seeded 11 for the tournament, was beaten 12-15, 15-11, 15-4 by Indonesian-born Hariyanto in early second round singles matches which also saw wins for India's Pullela Gopichand and Denmark's Peter Gade, AFP reported.
All England champion and sixth seed Gopichand battled through a testing tussle with Kevin Han of the USA, finally winning 15-6, 11-15, 15-7.
World number two Gade had an easier time of it, breezing past Sweden's Martin Hagberg 15-7, 15-1 in an all-Scandinavian tie.
But it was Hariyanto's remarkable upset of Ji that had the San Pablo Stadium abuzz on Wednesday.
Ji never got going against the Hong Kong player, who caused the Sydney Olympics singles gold medallist no end of problems with some clever variation and teasing drop shots.
The win is the biggest of Hariyanto's career, and the world number 25-ranked Hong Kong player leapt for joy on claiming the win.
"I can't believe it. I knew I had a chance, this is the best thing that has ever happened to me in badminton," said Hariyanto, who looked almost as shell-shocked as Ji after the victory.
The 24-year-old player moved to Hong Kong four years ago with his family from Indonesia and has represented the former British colony for the past two years.
Hong Kong coach Chan Chi-choi, who coaches Hariyanto at the Hong Kong Sports Institute, was beaming with pride after watching the player torment Ji into defeat.
"We knew we had a chance before the match," Chan said. "It was always going to be tough but we have seen that Ji does not play as well when he has got pressure.
"He is the Olympic champion and people expect him to win. But he doesn't like that pressure," said Chan, a Commonwealth Games mixed doubles gold medallist in 1990.
"We knew that if we could win a game against him he would start to get nervous," said Chan, who described the result as the "greatest win in the history of Hong Kong men's singles history."
Hariyanto had got off to a flying start against Ji, racing into a 5-0 lead in the first game. But Ji, looking uncharacteristically sluggish around the court, slowly pulled himself back into the game before finally winning the first 15-12.
But encouraged by the closeness of the first game, Hariyanto remained cool in the second and was soon 6-1 up. He maintained that buffer and held on to win 15-11.
In the third Ji's nerve collapsed as Hariyanto chased every shot and forced his opponent to move around the court. Suddenly a string of errors crept into Ji's game and Hariyanto gleefully punished the Chinese star.
He wrapped up a sensational victory with a run of six straight points as Ji capitulated meekly.
Hariyanto will play seventh-seeded Indonesian Marleve Mainaky in the third round. Mainaky defeated Thailand's Boonsak Polsana 15-8, 10-15, 15-11 to advance into Thursday's matches.
Victory over Mainaky would in all probability leave Hariyanto with a quarter-final against former world number one Gade, impressive in his demolition of Hagberg.
"In these conditions you want to win the early round matches as quickly as possible," Gade said after his straight games win over the Swede.
"The heat isn't so bad in the morning but it's hard in the afternoon and evening. That will come into play later in the tournament," he said.
India's Gopichand, regarded as a dark horse for the title, was made to work much harder by Han in his victory. Gopichand suffered a lapse in the second but recovered well to advance to a third round tie with Taiwan's Permadi Fung.
Further men's and women's second matches get underway later here Wednesday.
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