Korean Badminton Duo Reaches Finals

Korea’s top two badminton stars, Jung Jae-sung and Lee Yong-dae, have made it to the final round of the 16th World Badminton Championships.

The duo, who are ranked 12th in the world, beat the 15th ranked Shuichi Sakamoto-Shintaro Ikeda duo from Japan, 2-0 (21-18, 21-12) yesterday. It is the first time Koreans have reached the men’s finals since Kim Dong-moon and Ha Tae-kwon won the championship in 1999.

The two players will play Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan, who are ranked third. The Koreans have lost to this team once, but have also won once. The Koreans are poised for the season’s second victory, after winning the Korea Open in January, and placing second in the Germany Open and Thailand Open.

“The two players have recently been on a roll, so we definitely have a chance,” said Coach Kim Jung-soo, the head coach of the national badminton team.

In the semifinal match, the two Koreans broke a 14-14 tie in the first set by scoring five straight points to win it. They won the second set using aggressive smash play.

Meanwhile, the Chinese team was able to reach the final round in four categories, excluding the men’s doubles. Two Chinese female teams reached the finals of the women’s badminton doubles.

kjs0123@donga.com