Gold for Korea!! Controversial End to Junior Championships
The last match of the KLRC 2007 World Junior Championships was the boys' doubles between top seeds Li Tian and Chai Biao of China and Chung Eui Seok and Shin Baek Choel from Korea. The Chinese were hot favourites over their unseeded opponents - even if the Koreans had taken to 3 games in the team final - and looked very confident going into the match, but the Koreans weren’t to be intimidated and took it to the higher-ranked pair.
Story and Photos by Lynne Scutt, Badzine Correspondent Live in Waitakere
Shin and Chung had a hard road to the final. They had beaten the 6th-seeded Danes in the last 16, the 4th-seeded Chinese in the quarter-final, which they won 21-18 in the 3rd and the 2nd-seeded Malaysians in the semi-final. It was a great effort to even get there.
The first game was very even, going point for point, but the Chinese players (and officials) got a little rattled with a couple of service faults been called on them. This seemed to fire up Li and Chai and they held on to win the first game 26-24.
The rallies in the 2nd were no different, with some tactical net play and great attacking by both pairs. The crowd was really getting behind the Chinese pair but this didn’t put off the Koreans and after another couple of service faults, they crept ahead of Li and Chai and it remained that way till the end of the game as Chung/Shin won it 21-19. The Chinese were now quite upset with the service fault calls and even the crowd was getting behind their players with support.
In the background, the Chinese management, through a translator, was querying these faults with the tournament referee. They were told that the service judge was making correct calls and that they needed to accept it.
The third game was exciting from start to finish with some amazing badminton and players diving all around the court, but the Korean pair kept their cool and just frustrated the Chinese with great defense. With a couple more service faults and even a receiver fault against the Korean player, Shin and Chung established a lead of a few points. Even through the interruption of the tournament referee being called onto the court over the fault service calls, they stayed composed and managed to hold onto that lead and won the 3rd game 21-15. Both players fell to their knees in celebration and were embraced by their coach and teammates.
But this wasn’t to be the end of the controversy. The Chinese coach and interpreter walked onto the court to face the service judge and obviously explain their disapproval of his calls. The referee then removed them from the court after quite a lot of debate. Chinese officials debated behind the court for a long time afterwards but it was all over and the Korean team had won the gold medal.
At the medal presentations, Li Tian was visibly upset by the loss, and was consoled by his partner Chai Biao. Then, quite disrespectfully, Li left the podium, causing his partner to follow him and leaving the gold and bronze medalists standing there.
A great day of exciting badminton to finish the Championships.