Korea and Japan to send young squads to East Asian Games

Korea is sending only its top juniors, along with two 19-year-olds, to next month’s East Asian Games in Tianjin, while nearly half of the 18-member squad Japan has named is under 20.  Japan Open champion Akane Yamaguchi is the headliner for the Japanese team, along with New Zealand Open winner Riichi Takeshita, Asian Junior Champion Aya Ohori, and Thailand Open runners-up Miki/Yonemoto.  Korea will be looking to two-time Asian Junior Champions Choi Sol Kyu / Chae Yoo Jung and Asian Junior Championship runner-up Jeon Hyuk Jin, but is unlikely to see a repeat of the last edition, when unknown Choi Ho Jin shocked Lin Dan to win the men’s singles gold.

The complete athlete lists for the event, which kicks off on October 6th, have yet to be published on the event website but the Korean and Japanese associations have published their lists on their respective websites.  The complete lists are shown below.