Shanghai Daily news

There were upsets galore at the 2005 World Championships in Shanghai with some big name players making early exits from the tournament yesterday.
Austria's Wener Schlager, undoubtedly, was the biggest casualty yesterday and he was followed to the door by Athens Olympic champion Ryu Seung-min of South Korea and Chuan Chih-yuan of Chinese Taipei in the men's singles event.
Schlager, who raised many eyebrows two years ago after he won the men's singles title at the 2003 World Championship in Paris, caused an even bigger flutter yesterday after crashing out in what was only the second round of his defense campaign.
Schlager, who squandered a two-set lead to concede the game 3-4 to Spaniard He Zhiwen, blamed his defeat on the facilities at the Shanghai Grand Stage.
"My opponent's serve often went longer than expected because of the windy air-conditioning," said the 33-year-old veteran.
"And the ball was too soft for me, which means it floated everywhere. I was not playing table tennis but beach table tennis."
On Sunday, top-seeded Wang Liqin also criticized the poor air-conditioning at the venue.
The local favorite, who was playing his first-round fixture on the same table as Schlager did yesterday, also expressed similar grievance.
"I think I have done the best I could under the circumstances and have no regrets at all," said Schlager.
The Austrian's conqueror, He Zhiwen, a little-known ethnic Chinese who moved to Spain over a decade ago, was roared on by the capacity crowd as they became aware of a major upset in the offing.
"I don't know whether the surroundings today galvanized him or not but I must say that I have never seen him play like that before," said Schlager, who wrapped up the defeat with a 1-11 collapse in the decisive seventh set.
He Zhiwen is ranked world No. 63 while Schlager is world's eighth best and is seeded ninth here at the worlds.
Ryu had a debilitating start to his game - giving up three of the first four sets to Dutch journeyman Danny Heister.
The Korean, who pulled off a resounding victory over China's Wang Hao in the men's singles final at Athens to deny a Chinese sweep of the sport, then reeled off some powerful strokes to regain some bit of the lost ground and leveling the scoreline 3-3.
But Ryu, who admitted that it usually took him longer to find his rhythm in a game against the fast-paced European players, failed to hold his ground and threw away the decider 4-11 - and lost the match 3-4.
Germany's Bastian Steger also enjoyed an eventful day, overcoming multiple European champion Belgium star Saive Jean-Michel 4-3.
Japanese challenger Filimon Andrei also caused an uproar when he saw off Chinese Taipei's seventh-seed Chuan Chih-yuan.
Elsewhere, the aging Swedish duo of Jan-Ove Waldner and Jorgen Persson also crashed out of the men's doubles, losing in five sets to Romanians Adrian Crisan and Vasile Florea.
The 11th-seeded pair lost their second round match 13-11, 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4.
The 39-year-old Persson has decided to call its quits after the tournament but it may not be the last major event for the 40-year-old Jan-Ove Waldner, the undisputed king of the sport.