2008 Beijing Olympic Games :Champion Hidayat makes early exit

Malaysia's Wong Choong Hann effectively ended the Olympic career of Athens badminton gold medallist Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia when he beat him 21-19 21-16 in the men's singles round of 32 on Monday.

In another upset, unseeded Japanese duo Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna pulled off "the win of their lives" to eliminate Olympic champions Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen 8-21, 23-21, 21-14 in the women's doubles.

Later, China's second seeds Du Jing and Yu Yang crushed Kimuko Ogura and Reiko Shiota of Japan 21-8, 21-5 in the women's doubles. A noisy home crowd shouted "Kill!" in unison with each Chinese shot, using a common term for a winner in the sport.

Taufik, who celebrated his 27th birthday on Sunday with cake and more practice, suffered a bout of Dengue Fever ahead of the Games and was released from hospital just two weeks ago.

The result takes the Japanese pair to the semifinals and dents hosts China's hopes for gold in the event, although both the second and third seeds in women's doubles are also Chinese.

Denmark's singles medal dreams also suffered on Monday when women's sixth seed Tine Rasmussen lost in three hard-fought games to unseeded Maria Kristin Yulianti of Indonesia. In the men's event Kenneth Jonassen lost to South Korea's Lee Hyunil, who was not seeded but was recognised as a major threat.