Lee to partner Ko in Europe

Ko Sung Hyun will be partnering reigning All England champion Lee Yong Dae in next month’s European leg of the Superseries, Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported yesterday.

Yonhap‘s report said that returned Korean National Badminton Team Head Coach Kim Joong Soo had decided to field Lee with Ko at the Denmark and French Opens and that his similarity in speed and power to Lee’s former partner Jung Jae Sung made him a logical choice.   Lee and Jung had been partners since early 2006 but Jung’s retirement following their bronze medal performance at the London Olympics necessitated the new partnership for Lee.

Lee Yong Dae, who turned 24 today, had originally been entered in next week’s Yonex Japan Open Superseries with Shin Baek Cheol.  However, the pair was withdrawn, along with nearly all of Korea’s Olympians, before the seedings were done for the event.  The tournament entries were sent in before the termination of Korea’s former Head Coach Sung Han Kook and his replacement with Kim Joong Soo.

Lee Yong Dae has had temporary partnerships with both players in the past, and actually won Grand Prix titles in his first ever tournament with each of them: the 2009 German Open with Shin Baek Cheol and the 2011 U.S. Open with Ko Sung Hyun.

While there is a string of five Superseries and Grand Prix events from this week right up until the Denmark Open, the top Korean players will not be participating internationally until after their National Sports Festival in early October, where Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol will actually be competing as a pair, while Lee Yong Dae will attempt to defend his title with high school friend Cho Gun Woo.  Meanwhile, Ko’s partner up until the Olympics, Yoo Yeon Seong, may end up paired with Shin but he was forced to withdraw from both men’s and mixed doubles at a national tournament on the weekend but reports are that his injury is not serious.