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)