IBAD WORLD CHAMPS - Lots of Gold to Go Around

The final day of the IBAD 2009 Seven Luck World Badminton Championships showcased no fewer than five showdowns between Korea and Thailand after Hong Kong and India had accumulated most of their golds on Friday. The tournament finished when yet another pair of Korean Lees – Lee Sam Seop and Lee Mi Ok (pictured) - clinched the last mixed doubles title on offer.

Story and photos: Don Hearn, Badzine Correspondent live in Seoul.

For the uninitiated badminton fan, one thing the IBAD championships offers in spades is diversity. From the wide variety of categories and therefore medals on hand to the variety of skills and strategies suitable to each categories to the many ages and experience levels of the participating players and even the court sizes and shapes and net height have been tailored to certain categories.

The International Badminton Association for the Disabled is entering an exciting new stage. It is currently undergoing both a name change – to the Parabadminton World Federation - along with integration into the BWF. This integration is seen as a key step in badminton’s bid to become an official sport in the Paralympic Games. It is somehow fitting, then, that the World Championships finally come to the home of BWF president Kang Young Joong, whose company Daekyo is also always among the sponsors of badminton events in Korea.

Meanwhile, though badminton is often conspicuous by the concentration of titles in just a few countries – witness the mere two countries that saw gold in Hyderabad last month. Although there were fewer European competitors than in the past – something silver medallist David Toupé of France attributed to the fact that this was the third consecutive edition held in Asia - the diversity at the IBAD Seven Luck World Championships certainly extended to the medal winnings as well. Hong Kong had picked up three titles already on Friday afternoon and they had only to complete their take on Saturday morning with wins over Germany and Chinese Taipei to clinch the team title. The morning’s events seemed to be a battle of the host nations past and present, however, as only one individual final before noon involved a player from outside Thailand or Korea.

Thailand got things started as Junthong Dumnern / Wetwithan Amnouy (pictured) got the better of Kim Sung Hun / Lee Sun Ae 21-12, 21-16 in the mixed doubles wheelchair-3 division. Both Kim and Lee were to even the score in their respective doubles matches against their Thai challengers. Kim and Sim Jae Yeol took care of Homhual Jakarin / Junthong Dumnern 21-8, 21-11 in men’s doubles while Lee and Kim Youn Sim beat out Pookkhum Sujirat / Wetwithan Amnouy 21-18, 21-10 for the women’s title.

By lunchtime, Thailand and Korea had two golds apiece as Pookkhum Sujirat had also managed to edge Lee Mi Ok 12-21, 21-8, 21-9 in the ladies’ singles wheelchair-2 division.

The afternoon action proved to be tougher contests. India’s Raj Kumar, who had already snatched the men’s singles title in the Standing-5 division on Friday, teamed up with Pandey Rakesh to take the men’s doubles title. While Lin Cheng / Lee Meng of Chinese Taipei led in the first game, Pandey provided the vociferous spirit that the Indian pair needed stay focussed and close it out 21-16. The Taiwan pair took the second game handily 21-11 to get themselves back in the match. However, the comeback that really worried the Indians was the one that closed the gap from 10-17 to 17-19 in the deciding game. Raj and Pandey (pictured) finally grabbed the needed two points, however, and after a full hour of play, the 2007 runners-up had done one better for 2009.

Next came Heo Sun Hui’s chance to break the Korea-Thailand deadlock. In the final and deciding match of the round-robin in the ladies’ singles standing-2 competition, Heo withstood a late rally from Thailand’s Kamtam Wandee to win 21-19. The tables turned in the second game as Kamtam won by an identical score but in the deciding game it was Heo who exhibited the superior control she needed to place her clears on the back line and her drops just over the net on the narrow court and the Korean came away a 21-19, 19-21, 21-15 winner in 55 minutes.

Another Pair of Korean Lees Tastes Victory

The final match of the day was also the last in a round robin and Korea’s Lee Sam Seop, who had taken the men’s singles title in the wheelchair-2 division in the morning, came into it leading the standings and hungry for a third gold. Osamu Nagashima / Midori Shimada did not make it easy as they still had the chance to force a 3-way tie for the top of the standings. The Japanese pair applied constant pressure Lee’s partner Li Mi Ok,

who produced clear after arching clear to keep the shuttle in play. The Koreans finally earned a margin and took the first game 21-15 but they were forced to play catch-up from 17-20 down in the second game but Lee Sam Seop (pictured) took charge in the clutch and kept the Japanese guessing as he worked the shuttle around the court and led a 5-point run by the Koreans to clinch the match and title.

“The competition this year was very different because fewer Europeans participated than in 2007,” said Lee Sam Seop after the match, “but of course, getting the results we have trained for, and at home, it feels great,” Lee said of his incredible week, where he took three golds after winning 13 matches in five days and dropping only a single game.

Lee has been playing badminton for six years but he has the poise, not to mention the golden hardware, of an old master. Of his future goals, he says “I’ve already won the World Championships and the Asian Games so now I’m hoping that badminton can become an official Paralympic event while I’m still of an age that I can hope for a good result.”

For complete results from the IBAD 2009 Seven Luck World Badminton Championships, please CLICK HERE

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