[Badminton] Korean Men Secure Gold in All-England Tourney

The men’s national badminton team secured the gold and silver medals yesterday in the All-England Championship, the sport’s most prestigious tournament.

In the men’s doubles semifinals in Birmingham, the Korean teams of Jung Jae-sung and Lee Yong-dae and Lee Jae-jin and Hwang Ji-man both advanced to the final.

Last week in the German Open, the two teams also competed in the final, with the Hwang-Lee combination prevailing.

Since the 1980s, when the team of Park Ju-bong and Kim Mun-su topped the world, Korea has stood out in the sport thanks to stars such as Kim Dong-mun, Ha Tae-gwon, Lee Dong-su and Yu Yong-seong.

The glory has withered in recent years, but Korea’s star is rising again ahead of the upcoming Beijing Summer Olympics in August.

The last time two Korean men’s doubles teams met in the final of the England tournament was in 2000, when Kim Dong-mun and Ha Tae-gwon took on Lee Dong-su and Yu Yong-seong. Kim and Ha were also the last Korean team to win the title in 2002.

National team coach Kim Jung-su said, “I feel good about (my team’s) regaining of confidence.”’

The world No. 6 Korean team of Jung Jae-sung and Lee Yong-dae beat No. 4 Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah of Malaysia. The Koreans trailed 20-16 in the third set, but scored four points in a row to force deuce. They then won after scoring three consecutive points with the score 20-21.

The world No. 11 Korean team of Lee Jae-jin and Hwang Ji-man shut out 16th-ranked Shuichi Sakamoto and Shintaro Ikeda of Japan, 2-0.

In women’s doubles, the world’s No. 4 Korean team of Lee Gyeong-won and Lee Hyo-jeong team of Lee Gyeong-won and Lee Hyo-jeong pulled out a 2-1 victory against world No. 3 Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen of China. The last Korean women’s doubles team to advance to the final was Na Gyeong-min and Jeong Jae-hee in 2000. In women’s singles, Hwang Hye-youn, who advanced to the semifinals for the first time in 11 years, lost to Tine Rasmussen of Denmark in straight sets.

kjs0123@donga.com