Indian Anup Sridhar upset Athens Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat
of Indonesia in the second round of men's singles at the world
badminton championships in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
Taufik, eighth seed, trailed in the opening game and lost at
21-14.
In the whole first game, Taufik showed his impatience by even
throwing his racket to the ground twice.
In the second, Taufik still could not overcome unforced errors
but began to pick up his form gradually by winning the game
26-24.
Sridhar saved five game points during the game.
Taufik had a nice start for the third game and even enjoyed a
five-point lead at 18-13 when Sridhar cut the deficit and managed
to level the score at 19-19 and 20-20 and finally overcame Taufik
22-20.
24-year-old Sridhar now improved his winning records against
Taufik to 1-2.
"Two encounters are also very close." said Sridhar.
"I played well today and I think Taufik also played well." he
added.
According to the match statistics, Taufik won 60 rallies against
Sridhar's 67.
Bangalore-based Sridhar trains at the Prakash Paducone
Academy.
Before ousting Taufik, the German Open semi-finalist only beat
big names like Park Sung Hwan.
(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2007)