PARIS, Aug 28 Malaysia's world number one Lee Chong Wei exited the World Badminton Championships on Friday, beaten 21-15, 11-21, 21-12 in the quarter-finals by former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat.

Less than an hour later, in another big surprise, titleholder Lin Dan succumbed 21-13, 21-13 to 13th-seeded South Korean Park Sung-hwan.

Lin won the world title in 2006, 2007 and 2009 and the Olympic gold medal in Beijing in 2008 when there was no world championship.

The run of upsets continued when India's Saina Nehwal, seeded two in the women's singles, lost 21-8, 21-14 to Chinese sixth seed Wang Shixian.

There was disappointment too for the home crowd when Pi Hongyan, who plays for France, lost 21-13, 21-15 to third seed Wang Xin of China.

Chong Wei's defeat continued his poor record at world championships and Olympic level but confirmed Hidayat's renaissance after he had slipped in the rankings in recent years.

The Malaysian top seed went into the match on a high after some fine displays in earlier rounds and with a 9-5 career head-to-head against his fifth-seeded Indonesian opponent.

However, a nervy start handed Hidayat the advantage with Chong Wei's touch at the net unusually suspect. He rallied a little from 9-15 to 12-15 but after that it was Hidayat's game.

Chong Wei was more of his old self in the second set but nerves returned in the third. Hesitancy round the net was compounded by a service fault, a rare error in badminton. He led 8-5 and 10-8 but once Hidayat squared at 12-12 it was downhill all the way for the unhappy Malaysian.

Malaysia have never won a gold medal at a world championships since the tournament was inaugurated in 1977.

Results
Quarter-finals
Men's singles

Chen Jin (CHN x4) bt Hsueh Hsuan Yi (TPE) 22-24, 21-5, 21-13; Taufik Hidayat (INA x5) bt Lee Chong Wei (MAS x1) 21-15, 11-21, 21-12; Park Sung

Hwan (KOR x13) bt Lin Dan (CHN x3) 21-13, 21-13; Peter Gade (DEN x2) bt Kazushi Yamada (JPN) 21-19, 21-12.

Women's singles

Tine Baun (DEN x4) bt Cheng Shao-Chieh (TPE) 21-18, 21-13; Wang Lin (CHN x7) bt Eriko Hirose (JPN x10) 21-16, 21-17; Wang Shixian (CHN x6) bt Saina Nehwal (IND x2) 21-8, 21-14; Wang Xin (CHN x3) bt Pi Hongyan (FRA x5) 21-13, 21-15.

Men's doubles

Guo Zhendong/Chen Xu (CHN x4) bt Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen (DEN x8) 21-16, 23-21; Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong (MAS x1) bt Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae (KOR x7) 23-25, 21-13, 21-14; Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng (CHN x5) bt Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (DEN x3) 21-11, 21-15; Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan (INA x2) bt Fang Chieh Min/Lee Sheng Mu (TPE x6) 21-14, 21-14.

Women's doubles

Ma Jin/Wang Xiaoli (CHN x1) bt He Jung Eun/Kim Min Jung (KOR x6) 21-19, 17-21, 21-12; Cheng Shu/Zhao Yunlei (CHN x4) bt Maeda Miyuki/Satoko Suetsuna (JPN x5) 21-8, 21-14; Cheng Wen Hsing/Chien Yu Chin (TPE x3) bt Hyun Young Yoo/Jung Kyung Eun (KOR x8) 21-14, 21-17; Du Jing/Yu Yang (CHN x2) bt Pan Pan/Tian Qing (CHN x7) 22-20, 21-18.

Mixed doubles

He Hanbin/Yu Yang (CHN x6) bt Thomas Laybourn/Kamilla Rytter Juhl (DEN x2) 21-19, 21-16; Zheng Bo/Ma Jin (CHN x8) bt Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir (INA x1) 21-19, 23-21; Ko Sung Hyun/Ha Jung Eun (KOR x12) bt Diju V/Jwala Gutta (IND x9) 21-16, 21-19; Lee Sheng Mu/Chien Yu Chin (TPE x16) bt Tao Jiaming/Zhang Jawen (CHN x10) 14-21, 21-17, 21-18.—Agencies