Pre-tournament favourite Ching-shun Yang crashed out of the 2005 Kaohsiung World Pool Championship on Wednesday night following a devastating display from unheralded UK Pro 9-Ball champ Raj Hundal.
The London-based Hundal put on the performance of his life to win 10 - 4, much to the delight of a hardy band of UK fans in the big pro-Yang crowd.
The last 64 encounter was expected to be a procession for Yang, a player who has dominated Asian tournaments for the past 18 months.
The 23 year-old Englishman had other ideas though, as he won the lag and proceeded to run the opening two racks looking supremely comfortable in the process.
Yang got to the table in the third for the first time but a blue 3 ball wobbled in the jaws of the pocket and from there Hundal cleared to get to 3 - 0.
It was then strictly one way traffic as Hundal ran the next four to establish a big 7 - 0 lead, leaving Yang languishing in his chair, reduced to a mere spectator.
However, Yang got to the table in the eighth game to claw one back and got his break working well enough to run out the next three to get to 7 - 4.
A soul-destroying scratch on the break for the Taiwanese in the next though, gave Hundal ball in hand and he cleared to get to 8 - 4 and give himself a real chance of a major upset.
Hundal, though, missed a relatively difficult 9-ball in the next rack but left the ball safe. Yang played a safety leaving the length of the table between the white and the 9, but Hundal pulled off the boldest shot of the match to bank the 9 ball back down the table into the corner pocket.
To the sheer joy of his fans, the UK player ran out from the break in what was the final rack of the game to clinch a historic victory and a last 32 clash against Rodney Morris of the USA.
Afterwards, Hundal was clearly thrilled by his win, 'That was great! Yang is such a dangerous player that I knew I couldn't give him a chance.
'I just had to concentrate on my game and not think about him. I felt really confident in the TV arena and I feel I can beat anyone now I've knocked out the favourite.'
For complete bracket coverage of this event, go to http://www.worldpoolchampionship.com/. For complete coverage of this event, check out the September issue of Billiards Digest magazine.
Photo courtesy of Matchroom Sport
Last 64 Results
Po-cheng Kuo (Tpe) 10 - 7 Steve Davis (Eng)
Chun-Chiang Liu (Tpe) 10 - 7 Daryl Peach (Eng)
Roman Hybler (Cze) 10 - 6 Chong-hua Cheng (Tpe)
Fong-pang Chao (Tpe) 10 - 2 Michael Valentine (Sco)
Kun-chang Huang (Tpe) 10 - 7 Thomas Engert (Ger)
Hui-kai Hsia (Tpe) 10 - 3 Mike Davis (USA)
Rodolfo Luat (Phi) 10 - 1 Luong Chi Dung (Vie)
Thanh Nam Nguyen (Vtm) 10 - 8 Niels Feijen (Ned)
Jung-ling Chang (Tpe) 10 - 8 Francisco Bustamante (Phi)
Warren Kiamco (Phi) 10 - 6 David Reljic (Aus)
Rodney Morris (USA) 10 - 2 Luc Salvas (Can)
Raj Hundal (Eng) 10 - 4 Ching-shun Yang (Tpe)
Vilmos Foldes (Hun) 10 - 2 Ibrahim bin Amir (Mas)
Alex Pagulayan (Phi) 10 - 5 Shin-young Park (Kor)
Nick van den Berg (Ned) 10 - 5 Tony Drago (Mal)
Hua-fong Wang (Tpe) 10 - 5 Dennis Orcullo (Phi)
Marcus Chamat (Swe) 10 - 5 Johnny Archer (USA)
Alain Martel (Can) 10 - 7 Earl Strickland (USA)
Chia-ching Wu (Tpe) 10 - 5 Ping-I Ko (Tpe)
Andreas Roschkowsky (Ger) 10 - 2 Adam Abdulrahim (Ina)
Kevin Uzzell (Eng) 10 - 7 Alex Lely (Ned)
Thorsten Hohmann (GER) 10 - 7 Ronato Alcano (Phi)
Gabe Owen (USA) 10 - 6 Oliver Ortmann (Ger)
Jeremy Jones (USA) 10 - 8 Satoshi Kawabata (Jap)
Gandy Valle (Phi) 10 - 8 Do Hoang Quan (Vie)
Ying-chieh Chen (Tpe) 10 - 5 Pei-wei Chang (Tpe)
Marlon Manalo (Phi) 10 - 9 Charles Bryant (USA)
Chien-che Huang (Tpe) 10 - 5 Konstantin Stepanov (Rus)
Kunihiko Takahashi (Jap) 10 - 8 Dan Basavich (USA)
Mika Immonen (Fin) 10 - 2 Ivica Putnik (Cro)
Cory Deuel (USA) 10 - 2 Chia-hsiung Lai (Tpe)
Harry Stolka (Ger) 10 - 6 Che-wei Fu (Tpe)
Last 32 Matches
Chun-Chiang Liu (Tpe) v Po-cheng Kuo (Tpe)
Roman Hybler (Cze) v Fong-pang Chao (Tpe)
Kun-chang Huang (Tpe) v Hui-kai Hsia (Tpe)
Rodolfo Luat (Phi) v Thanh Nam Nguyen (Vtm)
Jung-ling Chang (Tpe) v Warren Kiamco (Phi)
Rodney Morris (USA) v Raj Hundal (Eng))
Vilmos Foldes (Hun)v Alex Pagulayan (Phi)
Nick van den Berg (Ned) v Hua-fong Wang (Tpe)
Marcus Chamat (Swe) v Alain Martel (Can)
Chia-ching Wu (Tpe) v Andreas Roschkowsky (Ger)
Kevin Uzzell (Eng) v Thorsten Hohmann (GER)
Gabe Owen (USA) v Jeremy Jones (USA)
Gandy Valle (Phi) v Ying-chieh Chen (Tpe)
Marlon Manalo (Phi) v Chien-che Huang (Tpe)
Kunihiko Takahashi (Jap) v Mika Immonen (Fin)
Cory Deuel (USA) v Harry Stolka (Ger)
Photo courtesy of Matchroom Sport
