GERMAN JUNIOR 2015 – Korean and Malaysian youngsters pick up the slack

While the entire senior national teams from Korea and Malaysia were shut out of the semi-finals at the All England, the next generation was finding success at the German Junior Open in Berlin.

Photo: Yves Lacroix for Badmintonphoto (archives)

The Yonex German Junior once again attracted youngsters of the highest quality from Asia and Europe.  Two badminton powers that found their national A teams uncharacteristically excluded from the All England final four practically divided up the titles between them.

For the Korean youngsters, they were also making up for a poor showing the previous week at the Dutch Junior.  Seo Seung Jae and Choi Jong Woo (pictured) took the men’s doubles title after finishing as runners-up last year.  It was a long-awaited success for Seo, after two consecutive unsuccessful trips to the finals.

Choi’s mixed partner Kim Hye Jeong was again unable to find success in the mixed doubles, as she was in 2014.  However, like last year, Kim, daughter of 1992 Olympic gold medallist Chung So Young, won the girls’ doubles title.

The mixed doubles involved one of only two players to win two consecutive junior titles, as Japan’s Chiharu Shida had won girls’ doubles in the Dutch Junior.

The other youngster with a streak was Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei.  After winning the mixed doubles last week, she added a girls’ singles title in Germany with a victory over former Danish national champion Mia Blichfeldt.  The boys’ singles also pitted a Malaysian against a Dane and Satheishtharan R. took care of Anders Antonsen in straight games.

Final results
XD: Yuta Watanabe / Chiharu Shida (JPN) beat Choi Jong Woo / Kim Hye Jeong (KOR) [5/8]  21-12, 21-7
WS: Goh Jin Wei (MAS) [5/8] beat Mia Blichfeldt (DEN) [2]  21-9, 21-16
MS: Satheishtharan R. (MAS) [3/4] beat Anders Antonsen (DEN) [9/16]   21-19, 21-14
WD: Kim Hye Jeong / Park Keun Hye (KOR) [2] beat Kim Hyang Im / Shim Ye Rim (KOR) 21-17, 21-17
MD: Choi Jong Woo / Seo Seung Jae (KOR) [5/8] beat Ben Lane / Sean Vendy (ENG) [2] 21-13, 21-12

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