KOREA – Big changes on national team

Along with last week’s announcement of a new head coach for Team Korea (see related article here) has come a significant turnover in players, as 12 players, including last year’s All England runners-up Han Sang Hoon and Hwang Ji Man, were removed from the roster.

Han and Hwang, after their fairy-tale run at last year’s All England, had a bit of a rocky time, losing to Hong Kong’s Njoto Wiratama in the Sudirman Cup in a tie that Korea only won 3-2.  Both players have been bouncing around with various partners since then and Han Sang Hoon began his 2 years of military service earlier this year.

Most of the other changes are normal, including 4 high school athletes who were given an early shot as singles tryouts but have now left the national training centre.  Others were expected, such as the previously announced retirements of Lee Kyung Won and Lee Hyo Jung.  Two more veterans – Lee Cheol Ho, 24, and Jang Soo Young, 22 – left after eight years on the national team.  Lee won the Osaka International last year but Jang had not advanced past the second round of a tournament since April 2008.  They followed 25-year-old Lee Yun Hwa, who left in October after nearly 9 years on the national team.

Among the new blood for Korea are Choi Hye In (see spotlight article here) – who joins two months after fellow World Junior Championship runner-up Kang Ji Wook – and 20-year-old Lee Dong Keun, who followed up his quarter-final finish at the Canada Open with a semi-final loss to Wang Zhengming at the Korea Grand Prix last month.  The youngest member of the team at present is Lee Hong Je, who bounced back from a first-round loss at the World Juniors to reach the singles finals of two national tournaments in the summer.