Mohammad Hafiz Hashim suffered a shocking first round defeat in the Korean Open. Lost at the hands of unknown Hong Kong player.
If i'm not wrong, the player Hafiz lost to is Johan Hadikusuma. Thats his Indonesian name written there as opposed to his christian name. I BELIEVE, i've seen his name written as Johan Hadikusuma Wiratama somewhere before.... Also, for those of you who don't know, Johan is the younger brother of Alan Budikusuma who i believe won the 1992 Olympics
Not exactly an 'unknown' player. Johan has moved to HK just over a year ago. First as a training partner. Then it seems he managed to obtain a contract with HKBA. For the past year, he seems to have had a lot of difficulties exiting in qualifiers and 1st rounds of tournaments. This is a player who reached the s/f of the s'pore open in 2001 (i think). Maybe this is his turning point. (and Hafiz's)
It just goes to prove how difficult it is to stay on top. The underdog, Hafiz was one during the All-England, will take every opportunity to knock the "stars" out of contention. Even the more consistent Chen Hong recently suffered the same fate during the Japan Open when he was eliminated by young teammate, Lin Dan. Looks like we can expect more upsets to come!
