Being the current Asian Champions and winning their first super series I think this pair deserves their own thread. Only 22(Kim Sa Rang) and 21(Kim Ki Jung) years old this pair is undoubtedly one of the new upcoming pairs to watch! They won their first title together 2011 at the Turkiye International, and later in 2012 they reached the semifinal at the Victor Korea Open, only to lose vs fellow Koreans Lee Yong Dae and Jung Jae Sung. They participated in the Yonex All England 2012 championship but lost in the first round vs the 5 seeds Chai Biao and Guo Zhendong by a score of 21-18 18-21 26-24. In the following tournament(Swiss Open) they had to retire in the first round. Then came their breakthrough: The Asia Championship 2012. Coming into the tournament as an unseeded pair they beat 4 seeded pairs to win the championship including the first seeds Chai Biao and Guo Zhendong in the semi-final by a score of 21-17 21-9. Now after winning 1 Super series event in Japan and 1 Grand Prix in Indonesia event they are the number 10 ranked pair in the world, and in my mind they will continue to climb much, much higher.
Looks like Jang Sung retired soon , why not Kim Ki Jung & Kim Sa Rang, one of them replace JJS partner Lee Yong Dae ....?
Actually, in August, they turned 23 and 22 respectively. They are still young, though, and have lots of potential.
I agree. IMHO, they could be the next "Li Yong Dae/Jung Jae Sung" of their time.... Kim Sa Rang style of play really remind me of Li Yong Dae while Kim Ki Jung could follow in JJS footsteps. I guess what is they need now is to gain more experience and exposure. They will be a force to reckon with in time to come.
Thank you for pointing that out! They are indeed a very young pair, and one advantage I think they have over some pairs is the fact that they are about the same age! Whereas in some pairs there is a huge difference in age between the players so that one retires before the other(LYD&JJS etc) I think these two could stick together for a very long time. They are already playing so well with each other so I am really looking forward to what a few more years of partnering could bring. Let's hope that they get the chance to play together for many years to come.
Let me quote myself for some additional info: 03-06-2011 11:09 AM 05-21-2011 12:54 AM 04-22-2012 04:43 PM
Because i never really heard of them, only heard of them after they win the recent Sept Yonex Japan open http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81cChQA-ghM
Hahaha, then you still cant figured it out by urself from the video what racket they used?? They won Badminton Asia Championship, IGP even kim sa rang participated in thomass cup OMG
I think Kim Sa rang should partner Lee yong dae more, as they dont seem to have good partnership in matches.
It only looks like insider news with that little typo . His new partner is Ko (not Koo) Sung Hyun and this has been written about in the press already (in Korean, too, of course: 1, 2), as well as shown on the M&Q lists for the Denmark and French Opens. I suspect this is in the Lee Yong Dae thread. The second article in Korean mentions that the coaches are still considering trying out Kim Sa Rang and Shin Baek Cheol but that was last month and for the China Open, it is still Ko paired with Lee.
Kim and Kim lost in the QF yesterday to Boe and Mogensen. 22-24 20-22. Let' hope they learned from this and continue to grow as a pair.
Based on the colour of Kim Ki Jung's racket, i thought it looks really like a MX JJS but wasn't sure. Thanks for the confirmation!
