KOREA OPEN 2011 SF – Danes take on Koreans in repeat final

Denmark’s Boe and Mogensen took out Korean #2 pair Ko/Yoo to earn a shot at another Korea Open men’s doubles badminton title.

By Don Hearn, Badzine Correspondent live in Seoul.  Photos: Yves Lacroix for Badmintonphoto

Both men’s titles at the 2011 Victor Korea Open Premier Super Series will be international contests this year as Korea’s Ko Sung Hyun / Yoo Yeon Seong were stopped in the semi-finals by world number one Mathias Boe / Carsten Mogensen (pictured) of Denmark.  Once again, the men’s title is the only one that can’t go to China.  The two hard-hitting pairs took to the floor shortly after China’s women’s pairs had worked out which two would be facing each other in that final.

“We are the two best pairs at the moment so I think it is well-deserved that we should meet each other in the final.”

Two years ago, Boe and Mogensen stunned Korea’s Jung and Lee in the final in Seoul, while the Koreans were flying just a month after taking three titles in a row, including the Super Series Finals.  Last year, their designs on a title defense were thwarted by China’s Cai Yun / Fu Haifeng.

Fast forward to this year, and the Chinese are reigning world champions but they are 0-2 against Danish pairs this year and Boe/Mogensen instead faced their compatriots in the quarter-finals, their reward for winning being a date with another pair that is on the ascendancy, Hong Kong Open champions Ko Sung / Yoo Yeon Seong (pictured).

The Koreans, however, had trouble getting control of the game and the Danes never relented with the pressure, spent most of the match attacking and forced the Koreans to make a spectacular play if they wanted a point.  They could not come up with enough such plays, of course, and the Danes came away the winners in two games.

Asked how they were able to get the attack through in a hall many players had complained made for slow shuttles this week, the Danes, among the only ones brave enough to sport sleeveless tops in the Seoul winter, pointed to their flexed upper arms and said simply, “These!”

“No, of course at all the major tournaments when the hall is as big as this is, the shuttle normally gets very slow,” expanded Mathias Boe.  “It was the same in Taipei a few weeks back and at the All England as well and the Denmark Open so you get used to it.  It’s good a good thing that the shuttle is not drifting like it was in Malaysia.  It was a bit today but it hasn’t been drifting and that’s when it can get quite slow.  So we adjust our game to it and we like it when it gets physical.

“You could also see also Ko, of course he played mixed doubles also today.  He was tired and we got the physical advantage definitely today.  So we worked all night and that is our strength and we were not tired at all and we were ready.

“Well, Jung and Lee are on home court and of course they are the favourites tomorrow but we beat them quite easily in Taipei.  They could not do anything to change our game so we definitely have a good chance tomorrow.

“We could go out and play and play for free tomorrow.  We definitely don’t have as much to lose as they have, especially if they were to lose to us a second time on home soil.  I definitely think they will be more nervous than we will.

“It will be fun.  If you judge from the last 3 to 5 months, we are the two best pairs at the moment so I think it is well-deserved that we should meet each other in the final.

“I don’t play badminton for the money but of course it’s good to have.  Here in Korea there are many more spectators than the other days.  Some of them, they know who we are and they also support us even though we play their own.  It’s nice.

“Korea is a good place to play.  The fans here enjoy a good duel and I think they like us because we can challenge their own.”

While the men’s doubles will be a repeat of the 2009 final, then, the women’s game will be a repeat of last week’s in Malaysia as well as of the Guangzhou Asian Games.  If Zhang Yunlei and Tian Qing (pictured) can win that one again, over compatriots Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, their mixed doubles duel will decide who will be the first double gold medallist of 2011.

For complete semi-final results from the 2011 Victor Korea Open Premier Super Series, CLICK HERE

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