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Ji Xinpeng crashes out at badminton worlds
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Updated: 2001-06-06 20:56
Olympic champion Ji Xinpeng of China suffered an early exit in the second round of the world badminton championships as he was beaten by Agus Hariyanto 15-12, 11-15, 4-15 in Seville on Wednesday.
Ji, who has slipped from top place to 11th in the world rankings, managed a first-set win 15-12 after coming back from 8-9 behind. But the 24-year-old failed to show the calibre which took him to Olympic champion, dropping easily to the Chinese Hong Kong rival in the second and third sets.
"I desperately want to win this time and I was confident before the match. I can only say that I am not in my best form tonight," said Ji, who has not tasted a title after the Sydney Olympic Games.
Ji was a surprise winner at the Olympics where his teammate and All England champion Xia Xuanze and the current world number four Chen Hong were favored to take the Olympic title.
"He played too slowly today," Chinese head coach Li Yongbo said. "In fact, we had considered leaving him out of the national team this time, but he surprisingly beat all the other players in a competition participated by the Chinese top players and we had to add him to the list."
Ji confessed his defeat resulted from a "mental reason rather than a "technical" or "physical" one. "I will take some rest after returning home and try to figure out what's really wrong. And then I will work harder to walk out of the shadow. "
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