Lee Yong Dae (pictured) did not disappoint his hometown fans as he won gold in both men’s and mixed doubles for the second week in a row.  Ko Sung Hyun and Ha Jung Eun both came up short both together and separately.

Story and Photos: Don Hearn (live in Hwasun)

The 2009 Hwasun Korea International Challenge was Lee Yong Dae’s tournament from the word go.  His photo adorned banners all over this town of 75,000 and loomed above the courts and the winner’s podium.  All that remained was for Lee and partners to make each match their own on the court and this they did.

In the first match of the afternoon, Ko and Ha Jung Eun did their best and even pushed the Olympic champions to three games but in the end, Lee/Lee were too much for their challengers and took it by final scores of 21-14, 15-21, 21-9.  Lee Hyo Jung, who had to sit out the Yeosu International last year with an injury, took her first title from this event and her fourth straight international mixed title at home, a string that began with the 2008 Korea Open.  However, the effort in Hwasun took its toll on the veteran shuttler.

“Last week’s win against Zheng Bo / Ma Jin was a very important one for us,” said Lee Hyo Jung after the match.  “But since then, I have been battling an ankle injury and our team-mates have really improved to world class level this year so it was still a hard-earned win and we are happy to have earned the title.”

Lee said she will be getting her ankle treated next week and will not be able to play for the major prize money at the BWF Super Series Masters Finals in Johor Bahru. 


New Faces

Men’s singles was the only final with two brand new finalists and it provided some of the most thrills.  Hwang Jong Soo (left) and Rho Ye Wook (right) both earned their spots on the national singles team in July of this year when they each finished fifth in their respective groups in a team-wide round robin tournament.  But in Hwasun, they just piled on the upsets until their showdown in the final.  Hwang looked strong in the first two games but could not hold on and ran out of steam in the third.  Rho, for his part, improved his anticipation and reined in his errors and with them the Hwang juggernaut.  When the smoke cleared, Rho had won 14-21, 21-14, 21-14 to earn his first ever international title.


Youth 2, Experience nil

In the women’s events, it was three 20-year-olds from nearby Masan who took the glory.  First up was Bae Youn Joo (pictured).  She was runner-up in Yeosu last year to her veteran team-mate Kwun Hee Sook.  At that time, it was Bae who was the national team #2 stalwart and Kwun was playing for domestic pro team KT&G.  Bae has since left the national team and joined KT&G herself.  2007 champion Lee Yun Hwa, meanwhile, has been battling injury but still pulled together a finals appearance in Hwasun.

Bae had her way with Lee in the first game, winning 21-15 but in the second, it was Lee who led throughout until Bae finally caught her at 18-all and continued the surge to a 21-18 victory.  Bae now has won more titles since leaving the national team as she won while on it. In the final of the Singapore International last month, she beat KT&G team-mate Bae Seung Hee, a feat she duplicated in Saturday’s semi-final.

KT&G head coach Yoo Gap Soo had more reason to celebrate than just the victory of Bae Youn Joo, however.  His daughter Yoo Hyun Young returned to glory with Jung Kyung Eun (pictured below) in the women’s doubles.  In fact, Yoo coached all three girls in high school in Masan before taking on the KT&G position and bringing two of them along.

Jung had reached the finals last year with Kim Jin Ock but they were stopped by veteran pair Ha Jung Eun / Kim Min Jung.  This year, Ha had an even more decorated partner in Olympic silver medallist Lee Kyung Won but Jung and Yoo, who have been playing together since middle school, attacked relentlessly and never gave their veteran opponents the chance to get into their groove.  The younger ladies finished off the 21-19, 21-10 victory in a mere 30 minutes.

Jung and Yoo were second in the World Junior Championships in 2007, just before their first Korea International Challenge title in Suwon but Yoo was sidelined throughout 2008 with an injury and the two did not get their shot last fall in Pune.  Now they have been back together as a pair since July of this year, when they reached the semi-finals of the Thai Open, losing to Chinese aces Gao/Wei.

Lee 2, Ko nil

2007 men’s doubles champion Ko Sung Hyun (pictured below) earned himself two chances to climb back atop the podium but that last step was blocked in both cases by the odds-on and crowd favourite Lee Yong Dae.  However, the men’s doubles was every bit as exciting as the crowd hoped it would be.

Ko/Yoo have reached two finals this year.  Both were at home and in both the young pair were serious underdogs.  Still, they made a slightly better showing this time than they were able to in April against Olympic champions Kido/Setiawan.  In the first game, they staved off fears of a blowout for the top seeds when they fought back from an early 6-14 deficit to tie it up at 16-all.  Ko’s acrobatic attacks and obstreperous celebrations got both his partner and the crowd fired up.  The second seeds came up slightly short in the first, losing 19-21 but grabbed and held the upper hand in the second, which they won 21-15.

But this was to be Lee Yong Dae’s day.  It was his town, his friends and family in the stands, and his visage grinning down from every banner.  In the third game, the thrills continued for the crowd but twas not so for Ko/Yoo’s luck.  Jung/Lee unleashed an onslaught for which Ko and Yoo had no answer and closed it out 21-15.

“When I won this tournament two years ago, it was a whole different story because Jung and Lee weren’t there,” said Ko afterward.  “This time, in both finals, we knew we weren’t favourites so we able to relax, enjoy the matches and do our best.”

Asked when his own (and Lee Yun Hwa’s) hometown of Wonju would host an international badminton tournament that he could star in, Ko laughed: “I think that is a long way off.”

Ko and Ha now find themselves the only Korean representatives at next week’s Super Series Masters Finals in Malaysia, where only two pairs ranked higher than them will be competing for badminton’s largest prize purse.

For complete results from the 2009 Hwasun Korea International Challenge, CLICK HERE

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