Sung Han Kook to start up new pro team

Former Korean National Team Head Coach Sung Han Kook has been named to head up a new pro team in Korea, according to a report published today by Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.  Sung was removed from the national team staff in August last year in the aftermath of the match-throwing incident at the London Olympics.  The team will be sponsored by the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives (KFCC) and will begin with a men’s team of six players, with a women’s team expected by the end of the year.

Among the players on the new team will be former world #1 Lee Hyun Il, who was until last year part of the Yonex team in Seoul.  Three of the players are currently backup members of the national team and Sung told Yonhap that he wants to concentrate on developing such talents and giving them an opportunity to compete internationally.  Lee Hyun Il is currently participating in the Djarum Badminton Superliga, independently of the Badminton Korea Association (BKA).

Sung was Head Coach of the Daekyo pro team until 2010, when he took over the reins of the national team.   With the BKA disciplinary action last summer, he and women’s doubles coach Kim Moon Soo were prevented from coaching the national team for a period of four years, during which they are still permitted to coach domestic pro teams.