![Korean daily the Donga Ilbo reported today that Kang Kyung Jin, former Head Coach of the Korean national badminton team, would be signing a contract on Tuesday to join the […]](http://www.badzine.net/wp-content/uploads/ngg_featured/20170527_1634_SudirmanCup2017_BPLV7821.jpg "Historic change for Team China announced in Korean media")
Korean daily the Donga Ilbo reported today that Kang Kyung Jin, former Head Coach of the Korean national badminton team, would be signing a contract on Tuesday to join the coaching staff for the Chinese national team.
Donga points out that this is a historic turnabout for the badminton superpower as they have never before hired a foreign coach in an official capacity for their national team. The news comes just a week after mighty China was held to a solitary title at the World Championships for only the third time since the nation began sending teams to the event. The last time China emerged with just one title was in 1995. Unlike the badminton programmes in Malaysia, Korea, Thailand, India, England, and especially Japan, which have continuously sought the expertise of international coaches, China has remained proudly committed to a reliance purely on homegrown coaching talent.
Kang was last in the headlines in the autumn of 2018, when he went on television to make some revelations about some unpopular dealings by the Badminton Korea Association (BKA) after he and all but one of his coaching staff were fired following the Korean team’s disappointing results at the Asian Games. One of the accusations he levelled at the BKA related to moves he said undermined his attempts to field a strong team in Jakarta last summer.
Of the 6 coaches turned loose by the BKA last autumn, Kang is the 4th to find a position overseas. Indonesian singles coach Agus Dwi Santoso was almost immediately snatched up by Thailand, while early this year, both Park Tae Sang and Kim Ji Hyun (pictured right) began coaching singles in India. The two Koreans’ Indian charges picked up, respectively, bronze and gold at last month’s World Championships.
Photos: Badmintonphoto (archives)
![Chae Yu Jung / Seo Seung Jae became the only repeat mixed doubles Aussie champions during its Sydney era. Shi Yu Qi and Ou Xuan Yi / Liu Yu Chen […]](http://www.badzine.net/wp-content/uploads/ngg_featured/cr_20221120_1349_AustralianOpen2022_BPLV0036_rotator-36x36.jpg "AUSTRALIAN OPEN Finals – Historic repeat the feat"){kind=small}
![Blink or leave your seat to buy fast food and it would turn out to have a different outcome from what you were initially led to believe in more than […]](http://www.badzine.net/wp-content/uploads/ngg_featured/cr_20221119_1522_AustralianOpen2022_BPLV0034_rotator-36x36.jpg "AUSTRALIAN OPEN SF – Fancy seeing you on Sunday"){kind=small}
![In doubles, at a baseline level the pair needs to be reliable and then have something special on top of that to make it further. By Aaron Wong, Badzine Correspondent […]](http://www.badzine.net/wp-content/uploads/2022-QF-WD1-36x36.jpg "AUSTRALIAN OPEN QF – Finding that little bit extra"){kind=small}
![Drama mixed with entertainment fueled the marquee singles matches. By Aaron Wong, Badzine Correspondent live in Sydney. Photos: Badmintonphoto (archives) World #3 vs world #27 The ultra-popular and charismatic 2021 […]](http://www.badzine.net/wp-content/uploads/ngg_featured/cr_20220715_2118_SingaporeOpen2022_BPYL4448_rotator-36x36.jpg "AUSTRALIAN OPEN R16 – What actually happened in the last match of the night?"){kind=small}
![It was like a final in the first round as Seo Seung Jae and Kang Min Hyuk took on recent Hylo Open winners Lu/Yang in Sydney. By Aaron Wong, Badzine […]](http://www.badzine.net/wp-content/uploads/ngg_featured/cr_20220705_1622_MalaysiaMasters2022_BPES3440_rotator-36x36.jpg "AUSTRALIAN OPEN R32 – Wish it were longer"){kind=small}
Competition aside, this must have been one tough year for Kang, I’m glad he found a good position. Wish him the best with team China
I am totally speechless and at a loss of words. No words can describe how foolish BKA, Korea seemed to be now. BKA have decided to sack all their coaches in year 2018 blaming them for the players poor result. So Kang Kyung Jin brought Korean team to win that historic Sudirman Cup 2017 gold medal and he got sacked. So in Sudirman Cup 2019 for the very fist time in Korea black history, Korea team won no medals and lose in the quarter finals. In the past edition, Korea always reach the semifinals or finals of Sudirman Cup. So this year worse result ever lose in QF.
Then China quickly pick up Kang Kyung Jin to help their men doubles and women doubles players improve their skills.
It is also said that Yoo Yong Sung and Choi Min Ho will also be hired to coach China doubles players.
Well all the coaches are sacked in such a cruel manner in year 2018.
So Kang Kyung Jin, Choi Min Ho and Yoo Yong Sung will be coaching in China.
Then Park Tae Sang helped Sai Praneeth to win India first ever men singles bronze medal in Basel World Championship.
Kim Ji Hyun helped Sindhu to win India first ever women singles gold medal in Basel World Championship.
Agus Dwi Santoso helped Kantaphon Wangcharoen to win Thailand first ever men singles bronze medal in Basel World Championship.
Well BKA said it loud and clear. Those coaches are all failures so they must be sacked in year 2018.
But question here is how come those coaches who are labelled as failures can bring success to players from other countries?
So what logic is that? So what did Korea gain after sacking all their coaches and replace them with new coaches? Nothing they gain nothing. Korea went on to lose in the QF of Sudirman Cup 2019 creating the worse result ever.
So whose fault is it now? So till now BKA did not realize that it is the problem with the BKA association itself and the failure of the Korea system that is bringing those bad results? Why BKA choose to sack all their coaches in year 2018? Now all those coaches are doing a wonderful job overseas.
So the conclusion here is BKA, Korea is really one of those foolish association who just simply sack their coaches for nothing. Good luck to BKA, Korea. Judging by how BKA just loves to keep on blaming and sack all their coaches all at once, I don’t see Korea badminton returning back to its glorious moment. All I am seeing is dark road ahead and Korean badminton will be doomed forever.
Dear Foolish Decision, you must have been silent for awhile as the firing of the coaches en masse occurred a year ago. And I’m not sure hiring KKJ a year after his dismissal can be described as “quickly pick[ing him] up”. I am not defending BKA’s track record, and associations have a reputation of being top heavy with questionable proportion of the budget going to the brass. In Asia, there is an expectation that heads must roll when results are considered a failure. My question is “at what point will the brass be deemed responsible?”
But back to the main article of China’s hiring of Kang, my question is, “Do the benefits (of hiring an allophone coach) outweigh the disruption caused? And if so, and perhaps more importantly, is Kang the right person for the job? I guess only time (and the results) can tell, and arguably Kang deserves the chance to do the job before anyone passes judgement. After all, who would have guessed that Park Joo Bong would lead Japan to such a dominant era? (But then again, will Kang be given the reins as Park was in Japan?)
My one hesitation is that when he was coaching LYD/JJS he did not come across as being able to adapt and outmaneuver the opponent’s strategy, unlike the Indonesian coaches. That said, coaching during competition and coaching/teaching during training is not the same.