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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, May 22, 2003

Chinese Teenager Upsets World No. 1

A virtually unknown Chinese teenager pulled off the biggest upset win in the world table tennis championships here, beating world number one Timo Boll of Germany in the men's second round on Wednesday.


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Chinese Teenager Upsets World No. 1
A virtually unknown Chinese teenager pulled off the biggest upset win in the world table tennis championships here, beating world number one Timo Boll of Germany in the men's second round on Wednesday.

Boll, the tournament favorite to stop yet another Chinese clean-sweep of gold medals, was ousted by world 40th-ranked Qui Yike.

The 18-year-old Qui overcame his underdog status by fighting from two sets down to win 4-2 (3-11, 7-11, 11-7, 14-12, 11-9, 12-10).

Boll's exit had been preceded by the departure of another great player, two time champion Jan-Ove Waldner.

But while the Swedish legend's loss was easier to accept given his age, 37, and his lack of match practice after an injury, Boll's defeat caused an understandable ripple of disbelief around the packed Bercy arena.

The Chinese did not have things all their own way however as in the women's singles Germany's Elke Wosike beat sixth seed Li Nan to claim only her second ever top 10 scalp.

"I saw in her face she wasn't relaxed, I saw my chance," Wosike told reporters.

Europe, seeking its first women's gold since the 1950s, was also celebrating the safe arrival into the third round of its best player, the fifth-seeded Croatian Tamara Boros, and Romania's Mihaela Steff.

But before this trio get too carried away China's first second and third seeds, Zhang Yining, Wang Nan, and Niu Jianfeng, also made it through without any mishaps.

Japan's child prodigy Ai Fukuhara defeated Singapore's 12th seed Li Jia Wei.


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