TOKYO, April 6: China’s world champion Xia Xuanze was dumped out of the Japan Open badminton tournament on the first day on Wednesday when he was surprisingly beaten 15-2, 15-12 by South Korean qualifier Lee Cheol-Ho.

Xia, the 10th seed and 2003 champion here who eased past Japan’s Hidetaka Yamada earlier in the day, seemed to run out of energy against Lee and never recovered from a poor first set.

Xia joined defending champion Ronald Susilo, Thai ace Boonsak Ponsana, 12th seed Niels Christian Kaldau of Denmark and 11th seed Dicky Palyama of the Netherlands on the sidelines.

Boonsak beat China’s Chen Jin in his early game before crashing to another Chinese, Chen Yu. Kaldau let slip a match point at 14-12 in the deciding set before losing to Kuan Beng Hong of Malaysia 12-15, 15-4, 15-14.

Palyama was knocked out by Agus Hariyanto of Hong Kong in the first round and Susilo, of Singapore, was beaten by Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei 15-5, 17-16 in his second match.

Meanwhile the top three seeds breezed into the third round. World number Lin Dan shot down England’s Aamir Ghaffar 15-6, 15-9, former world number one Peter Gade of Denmark beat Japan’s Yuichi Ikeda 15-1, 15-5 and third seed Chen Hong of China beat Nicholas Kidd of England 15-8, 15-8.

Athens Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia had a walkover when Sairul Amar Ayob of Malaysia dropped out of their match with a right ankle injury at 15-11 in the first set.

China’s Chen Yu came back from 1-10 down in the first set to run out 17-16, 15-6 winner over Thailand’s Boonsak.

Results:

Men’s singles first round: Lee Tsuen Seng bt Shoji Sato 9-15, 15-10, 17-15; Jim Ronny Andersen) bt Niu Jiaping 15-13, 15-1; Ng Wei bt Andrew Smith 15-12, 5-15, 15-6; Toru Matsumoto bt Raju Rai 13-15, 15-5, 15-6; Muhammad Hafiz Hashim) bt Keishi Kawaguchi 15-5, 15-4; Anders Boesen bt Yosuke Nakanishi 15-11, 15-2; Bjoern Joppien bt Stuart Brehaut 15-4, 15-2; Sho Sasaki bt Eric Pang 15-11, 15-7; Chen Yu bt Lee Yen Hui Kendrick 15-10, 15-8; Boonsak Ponsana bt Chen Jin 13-15, 15-8, 15-13; Muhammad Roslin Hashim bt Hiroshi Shimizu 15-10, 15-3; Agus Hariyanto bt Dicky Palyama 15-8, 15-10; Kuan Beng Hong bt Yusuke Shinkai 15-2, 15-1; Niels Christian Kaldau bt Geoffrey Bellikngham 8-15, 15-7, 15-1; Lee Cheol-Ho bt Marc Zwiebler 17-16, 15-4; Xia Xuanze bt Hidetaka Yamada 15-4, 15-9

Second round: Lin Dan bt Aamir Ghaffar 15-6, 15-9; Lee Tsuen Seng bt Jim Ronny Andersen 15-3, 15-4; Bao Chunlai bt Gong Weijie 15-9, 15-12; Ng Wei bt Toru Matsumoto 15-6, 15-6; Kenneth Jonassen) bt Yeoh Kay Bin 15-11, 15-13; Muhammad Hafiz Hashim bt Anders Boesen 15-7, 13-15, 15-6; Lee Chong Wei bt Ronald Susilo 15-5, 17-16; Bjoern Joppien bt Sho Sasaki 15-13, 15-10; Chen Yu bt Boonsak Ponsana 17-16, 15-6; Wong Choong Hann bt Yohan Hadikusumo Wiratama 15-12, 15-11; Muhammad Roslin Hashim bt Agus Hariyanto 15-7, 15-4; Chen Hong bt Nicholas Kidd 15-8, 15-8; Kuan Beng Hong bt Niels Christian Kaldau 12-15, 15-4, 15-14; Taufik Hidayat bt Sairul Amar Ayob 15-11, retired; Lee Cheol-Ho bt Xia Xuanze 15-2, 15-12; Peter Gade bt Yuichi Ikeda 15-1, 15-5.—AFP