By Sportswriter Cao Jianjie

    YOKOHAMA, Japan, April 30 (Xinhua) -- The two most popular Japanese stars suffered early exit from the world table tennis championships on Thursday, which also witnessed a former Olympic champion and a top European fall at the same time.

    Ai Fukuhara, a household name in Japan, suffered a six-set loss (12-10, 6-11, 3-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-3) to Germany's Elke Schall in the women's singles second round, despite a frenzied crowd rooting for the baby-faced sports idol throughout the match.

    "I wanted to win this match so badly. I was so eager," said Fukuhara, with her eyes reddened with tears.

    "I wanted not to disappoint the home crowd who are so supportive. I feel so sad now."

    As pressure took a toll on Fukuhara, the 14-year-old Japanese sensation Koki Niwa did the best he could.

    Niwa, who upset Argentina's Liu Song on Friday afternoon, started well but ran out of steam as he lost to 13th seeded German Dimitrij Ovtcharov 7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9, 10-12, 11-8 in the men's singles second round.

    Earlier in the men's second round, 2004 Olympic champion Ryu Seung Min from South Korea and Vladimir Samsonov, the highest seeded non-Chinese at fifth, were ousted in five sets.

    China named Germany's Timo Boll, South Korean Ryu and Belarus' Samsonov as "Three Tigers" who are capable of upstaging Chinese. Boll pulled out with a back injury. With the surviving tigers subdued, the major threats to Chinese dominance have been cleared.

    Ryu, seeded ninth, lost to Slovakia's Bojan Tokic in five sets (14-12, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6), bringing tears to the eyes of South Korean supporters.

    Less than 10 minutes later, those tears of sadness, turned to tears of joy as South Korean Kim Jung Hoon dampened European aspirations, beating Samsonov 6-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-5, 11-7.

    Tokic owed his victory to careful preparation.

    "This is my fourth week in Japan, I spent three weeks practicing at the National Training Center in Tokyo," said the Slovenian who is a man to be admired.

    At the Qatar Open Tokic gave all his prize money to the Sandra Paovic Fund, which helps Croatian table tennis player Paovic who was seriously injured in a car accident in January.

    Tokic's rival has a big heart, too.

    Last year Ryu gave 10,000 U.S. dollars to the earthquake fund in southwestern China.

    The messy situation on Thursday night disappointed a few spectators who were expecting "Tigers" to challenge Chinese big names in later rounds.

    "What's going on here?" exclaimed Chinese sports teacher Hao Zhe, an avid fan of Ryu who came to Yokohama only to root for the South Korean.

    "Boll is gone. Ryu is gone. So is Samsonov. This championships is set to be a boring one," said Hao, who will shorten his trip and take a flight back to China as soon as dawn breaks.

    Chinese Wang Hao, Ma Lin, Ma Long and Wang Liqin, the top four seeds, all cruised into the men's third round.

    Zhang Yining, China's Olympic champion and women's singles top seed, advanced to the third round without yielding a set. Her coach Li Sun said Zhang has hit top form.

    "She is being in superb form," the coach said, "as good as when she won the Olympic singles gold in Beijing."