South Korea was handed a second blow Thursday as paddler Yoon Joe Young was brushed aside by Austrian Werner Schlager in the men's singles following the earlier exit of defending champion Ryu Seung Min.
Young lost the nail-biting match 4-3 despite efforts to forge his way to the next round. Both Young and the 2003 world champion Schlager battled to their maximum to lead the match but found themselves unable to build up advantage.
Schlager, ranked 36th, succeeded in scoring several key points with his strong backhand loop and took the tiebreaker 11-8, wrapping up the whole match 4-3.
"There are problems with my serves and judgement, which caused my defeat," Yoon said.
"This game is mostly about service and return. Yoon can't receive my serves well. After a time-out in the tiebreaker, I came back sober-headed and played better," Schlager said.
The 36-year-old veteran will face China's Wang Liqin in the fourth round of the singles touranment Thursday evening.
Schlager was whitewashed by Wang 3-0 in the group stage of the team event.
"I hope I could play better than last time," Schlager said.
Earlier on Thursday, Ryu made the biggest surprise of the day after succumbing to Ko Lai Chak of Hong Kong, China 4-2.
"I was too keen to win. Even though there has not been a great deal of pressure on me, I have met many strong rivals in the tournament," Ryu said.
Ko said that he knew Ryu very well. "I knew that I had to take the initiative in attacking. Both of us are poor at defense. Whoever attacked more had a greater chance to win," said Ko, who captured the doubles silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics with Li Ching.
(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2008)