Chinese Taipei's top favourite Lu Yen Hsun, top seed for men's tennis at Asian Games, quit with a waist injury midway through the men's team semifinals.

Lu, currently world number 37, quit before the start of the singles, leaving his compatriot Chen Di to play Indian top seed Somdev Kishore Devvarman instead of himself.

The absence of Lu, Wimbledon quarter-finalist, is a blow to the Chinese Taipei which aims for a tennis gold at the Guangzhou Asian Games.

"Lu felt seriously painful in his waist in this morning's warming-up, and we decide to let him rest and have his compatriot to play instead," coach Ho Kua-Lung of the Chinese Taipei team told Xinhua.

Lu withdrew from the men's team, singles and mixed doubles at the Asian Games tennis competitions, scheduled from Nov. 13-23.

Sunday's men's team semifinal was Lu's debut as well as his last performance at the ongoing Asian Games, in which he thrashed the Philippine player Cecil Mamiit 6-2, 7-6(7-3) in nearly two hours.

His victory, together with the triumph of compatriot Yang Tsung-Hua in another singles, sent the Chinese Taipei team into the last four of the Asian Games.

"What I did was to try my best. I have not fully recovered from my waist injury, and I'm not very satisfied with my own condition right now," said Lu after the games.

Lu's injury went worse on Sunday evening and the doctors suggested he pull out.

"We won't sacrifice the health of our athlete for the gold," said Lu's coach Ho.

With the early exit of Lu, Chinese Taipei team struggled over the semis with India and finally made its way into Tuesday's final.

"If we have Lu in the start list, we would have even stronger confidence to win the final," said his compatriot Yang Tsung-Hua. "Now we have to endure a tough fight with Uzbekistan for the gold," he added.

An Asian Games gold in singles is what Lu for long expected to prove his dominance in Asia. He bagged a mixed doubles gold in 2002 Busan Asian Games, and a bronze in the same event at Doha Games.

This year Lu beat American Andy Roddick to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals, making himself the first Asian man to reach a grand slam quarter-final since Japan's Shuzo Matsuoka's run at the All England Club in 1995.

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