One more Korean independent to join the fray?

Former world #1 Kim Ha Na signalled her intention to return to competitive badminton, as reported in Korea’s Badminton Times, bringing to 9 the number of Korean players competing outside the auspices of the national team.

29-year-old Kim Ha Na‘s name is actually a homonym of the Korean word for ‘one’.  But this week, she is just one more Korean ace to signal at least an intention to come back from ‘retirement’, bringing the total to 7 in the past year.

A total of 8 Korean stars left international badminton competition in the year following the Rio Olympics, if you include several who did not signal their retirement to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) but who left or didn’t make the national team.  The last 2 of the 8 – Kim Gi Jung and Yoo Yeon Seong – left the national training centre just before the 2017 Sudirman Cup, then one year later, they were joined by Kim Ha Na, who was not named to the Asian Games squad and submitted her papers to the BWF in July 2018.

Badminton Times, a Korean online badminton magazine today published a video on Sunday of an interview Kim gave at a signing ceremony with her new sponsor.  In it, she signals her intention to return to competition to international mixed doubles, but did not indicate who her partner would be.  There is mention of the Korea Open in September being her first tournament entry but entering a Super 500 event usually requires a player with points to go toward a notional ranking.

As it stands, the only high-profile post-Rio Korean retiree who has stayed away is Bae Yeon Ju.  Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol returned for good in August last year, as did Lee Yong Dae and Kim Gi Jung (pictured right).  Yoo Yeon Seong was actually only out for a few months in mid-2017 before he turned 31 and was thus permitted to return as an independent under then-existing Badminton Korea Association (BKA) rules.  Yoo played a few tournaments in the past two months with Lee Yong Dae but after the Kim/Kim reunion was cut short by a problem related to the two players’ individual sponsors, Lee is again entered with Kim Gi Jung for the Chinese Taipei Open in September.

Kim Ha Na would be the 9th Korean to compete as an independent player this year, although she, Kim Sa Rang, and Yoo Yeon Seong are so far not entered in any upcoming tournaments.  The same is true of Lee Hyun Il.  Lee has been competing independently since late 2013 , but his last outing was a qualifying-round exit from the Austalian Open and he has not appeared on any entry lists since.

Photos: Badmintonphoto