KOREA – Hwang clinches Spring Classic at home

Hwang Hye Youn (pictured) returned to her hometown of Pocheon, north of Seoul, along with the rest of Korea’s top badminton players, and clinched the final for her Samsung Electromechanics team, winning back the title from the Korea Ginseng Company (formerly KT&G).

Story and photos: Don Hearn, live in Pocheon

Nestled in the rural but heavily fortified area between Seoul and the North Korean border, Pocheon is known throughout Korea for its rice wine, or makkeoli, but the town’s name is also familiar to everyone in badminton circles as it is the hometown of Hwang, as well as Jun Jae Youn and young talent Eom Hye Won.

This past week was a chance for Korea’s domestic school and pro teams to break in their new talent but for Samsung, it was also a test for their new Head Coach, Atlanta gold medallist Gil Young Ah, who became the first woman to take over the head spot of a Korean pro team.

In fact, in the semi-finals, Samsung had to sneak by Daekyo, who are now headed by Gil’s former adversary in the Atlanta mixed doubles final, Ra Kyung Min.  Throughout the week, pairings of singles and doubles specialists were a familiar sight as at one point, Lee Hyo Jung partnered Hwang Hye Youn (pictured above), and Choi Hye In was paired with Daekyo veteran Lee Hyun Jin (pictured below).

The Korea Ginseng Company team got out to a commanding 2-0 head start in the women’s final on the singles strength of their two Baes, including a comfortable win by world #10 Bae Youn Joo (pictured above) over 2010 Australian Open winner Seo Yoon Hee.

However, the more experienced Samsung doubles players managed to eke out two straight victories, including Kim Min Seo / Park So Ri’s 21-15, 18-21, 21-19 win over KGC’s Jung Kyung Eun / Bae Seung Hee (pictured below).

The men’s event was won by Dangjin County, who scraped by the Samsung men’s team in the final, taking all three of their points from singles.   Dangjin moved into the final past the Sangmu, or military team, which is left with only one national team player, Hong Ji Hoon (pictured above), now that Jung Jae Sung and Park Sung Hwan have completed their military service.

The domestic events in Korea always provide some rare treats, such as seeing Lee Hyun Il and Park Sung Hwan (pictured below) pair up to clinch the Gangnam team’s winning point against Suwon in the preliminary rounds.

Kimcheon City Hall's Park Shin Hye (left) and Sun In Jang

Kimcheon City Hall's Ko Sung Hyun (left) and Kwon Yi Goo