KOREA SUMMER CHAMPS – Veterans and hopefuls

With today’s Korean badminton stars all down in Southeast Asia for the latest leg of the Super Series, the stars of yesterday and tomorrow had their chance to take titles in the annual Summer Championships in Andong.

Story and photos: Don Hearn, Badzine Correspondent live in Andong

Normally the strongest competition, this year’s the senior division had the fewest current national team players.  Lee Hyo Jung and Park So Ri (pictured above) took the women’s doubles title for Samsung after the only national team player in the entire draw was eliminated in the first round.

In fact, the only national team members still active at the end were the two losing singles finalists.  Hong Ji Hoon defeated Choi Ho Jin early in the men’s singles, only to lose 25-23, 20-22, 1721 in the final to unheralded Ko Joon Hyung. Kang Hae Won (shown below in her unsuccessful women’s doubles semi-final attempt with Seo Yoon Hee) disposed of Lee Hyun Jin in two.

Andong is known as one of Korea’s most traditional cities but while it does not have a badminton tradition like some areas of Korea, it has hosted these Summer Championships in three of the past four years.

One region with a strong badminton history had its share of success this week. Dangjin County, one of only three municipalities in Korea that sponsors both a men’s and women’s team, had two opposing finalists in the men’s doubles final while their women’s representative, former star Hwang Yu Mi, teamed up with Kang Myeong Won (pictured below), temporarily on loan to the military team, to take the mixed doubles title.

In the university division, Wonkwang’s Lee Haeng Ham (pictured above with partner Hyun Sung Uk), who recently returned to the national team, ruled the net in the men’s doubles final against KNSU’s Kang Ji Wook and Choi Young Woo.

KNSU had its own winner, however, as Lee Dong Keun (pictured below), another recent returnee to the national team, won his final handily.

Two of the youngest national team players came up just shy of titles in the high school division.  Ko Eun Byul (pictured above) of Hwasun has shown great improvement after her year training with the national team but was unable to come up with the girls’ singles title.

Lee So Hee (shown below with partner Kim Chan Mi) one of Korea’s top juniors who just joined the senior national team last month, came up on the losing end of a 22-20, 21-23, 19-21 contest in the high school girls’ doubles.

The girls’ singles winner was Park So Young (pictured above).  At 17, she is still waiting to shine at international junior events.

In the high school boys’ singles division, all the older contenders fell by the wayside early as 15-year-old Seoulite Choi Sol Kyu (pictured below) took the title.  Choi, who took both the boys’ singles and mixed doubles titles at the Surabaya Cup this spring, is certainly one of the young Koreans to watch out for.