The Star Online > Sports - Monday, July 14, 2003 Koreans set their sights on winning three golds in Birmingham PETALING JAYA: The South Koreans, known for their prowess in the doubles, ended without any titles at the last World Championships in Seville two years ago. They are still sore about it and will be going all out to set the records straight in the coming edition in Birmingham from July 28-Aug 3. South Korea have set their sights on winning three gold medals – from the men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles events – this time. The South Korean men’s and women’s national teams were here recently for the Transnasional Invitational Badminton Challenge against Malaysia to play three friendly matches in Alor Star, Kota Baru and Kuala Lumpur. South Korean team manager Kim Jung-soo had said before the team departed for Seoul last Tuesday that he was confident the players would peak at the World Championships. “We came here as part of our preparations for the world meet. We stand a better chance of striking gold medals in the doubles events than in the singles. “In the men’s singles, most of the players are almost of the same standard and we are only looking for a medal at the most,” said Jung-soo. He added that the Koreans were disappointed not to have won a single title in the last competition and were looking forward to making up for it in Birmingham. South Korean players managed to reach the men’s and women’s doubles finals in Seville but lost both of them. Korean top pair Ha Tae-kwon-Kim Dong-moon, the defending champions, had to settle for silver losing to Tony Gunawan-Halim Haryanto from Indonesia in straight games. It was double heartbreak for the Koreans when their defending mixed doubles champion pair of Dong-moon-a Kyung-min also fell in the final. Dong-moon-Kyung-min fell in rubber game to Olympic gold medallists Zhang Jun-Gao Ling of China. In the men’s doubles, the Koreans will be banking on world number one pair Tae-kwon-Dong-moon and number two Lee Dong-soo-Yoo Yong-sung. Both pairs are well placed to make it an all-South Korean affair, given their strong track record in international meets. Also in the fray are the third-ranked pair of Yim Bang-eun-Kim Yong-hyun, who are potential spoilers. The young pair showed their potential by reaching the semi-finals of the All-England and Swiss Open this year.
Wow, the Koreans are quite confident this time around. KDM thinks he will do will and now the team manager has hopes for 3!!?? Also, there is a mistake in the article. It stated that SK made the finals of WD in Seville, when they didn't! The finals was between Gao/Huang and Wei/Zhang. I think SK has real possiblity of taking MD or XD, but not that big in WD. They just aren't AS strong as top Chinese WD.
