South Korea’s dominant women’s badminton doubles team is aiming to win gold and silver medals at the Asian Games and Olympic Games.
At the Korea Badminton Association’s media day at the Champion House at the Jincheon National Athletes’ Village in Chungcheongbuk-do on Saturday afternoon, national women’s doubles coach Lee Kyung-won expressed her ambition to lead the pairs of Kim So-young-Gong Hee-yong and Lee So-hee-Baek Hana to the finals at both the Hangzhou Asian Games and the Paris Olympics.
“The goal is for our players to make the finals among themselves,” Lee said, adding, “It’s a dream and a goal to see these two pairs at the Olympics (as well as the Asian Games).”
“They use every corner of the court well,” Lee said of the Kim So-young-Gong Hee-yong pair, “with a variety of tactics and beautiful plays, Kim So-young’s forehand and Gong Hee-yong’s strong offense, they overwhelm their opponents.”
The rise of the Lee-Sohee-Baek Hana pair has also been remarkable. “We didn’t expect them to grow so much in less than a year, and we’ve been running ahead, but when we lose, we see our shortcomings, so we’re looking for ways to improve ourselves, so we’re looking forward to it,” the coach said. “Baek Hana’s defense is good, so we’re practicing how to take it steadily and turn it into an offensive play.”
The players are also confident. Kim So-young expressed her determination to defeat the world No. 1 pair of Chen Qingcheng and Zhao Zifan (China), saying, “We beat them easily at the Japan Open. The fact that I was thinking about the Korea Open match was a factor in my victory,” she said, adding, “It was a match that made me realize that I need to be proactive when playing Chinese players.”
Lee acknowledged that her opponents have started to analyze her, but vowed to overcome this. “I think they’ve analyzed us perfectly now,” Lee said, “and I think we need to work on the details. We’re in a slump right now, but I think the time will come. We are working hard to get out of the slump quickly.”
The men’s doubles and mixed doubles teams are also determined to do well at the Asian Games.
Seo Seung-jae, who competed in both men’s and mixed doubles, admitted that the men’s performance was not as good as the women’s, but promised a turnaround.
He said, “It’s true that our performance is not good. We are aware of it. We’re trying to make up for it in training,” he said. “We haven’t been ranked No. 1 since Yongdaehyung, and we started from the bottom, but now we’re making up for it and moving up in the rankings. I will try to prepare well and raise the status of men’s doubles at the World Championships, Asian Games and Olympics.”
Kim Won-ho, who also competes in men’s doubles and mixed doubles, said he has overcome his injuries. “I’ve been lifting weights and strengthening my muscles,” he said, “and I’m trying to prepare as much as I can to increase the tempo of my matches.”
Playing in the mixed doubles, Chae Yoo-jung is determined to rebound from her recent slump. “Every time I play, I can see and feel that I’m not good enough, and we’re in the process of accepting that and preparing for it,” she said. “It would be great if we do well, but even if we don’t, if we continue to prepare, I think good results will follow at the Asian Games, Olympics, or World Championships.”
Jung Na-eun, who is also competing in mixed doubles, said, “I don’t think our mixed doubles performance is good. Other sports are doing so well that we feel bad that we are training so hard in the athletes’ village,” she said, adding, “I’m trying to keep this in mind as I compete.”
Coach Han Dong-sung, who is in charge of mixed and men’s doubles, also asked for support for men’s and mixed doubles. “While the women’s singles and women’s doubles are performing well, it seems that the men’s players are not living up to expectations, but they are holding their own, although not as well as Lee Yong-dae,” Han said, “We are preparing well, so please have high expectations and support us.” 메이저사이트
Kim Hak-gyun, the national team’s general manager, said the team is determined to win medals in the team event, women’s singles, women’s doubles and men’s doubles at the Asian Games. “There is a lot of pressure from the Athletic Association, but I think (medals) will come from the highest-ranked sports,” Kim said. “We will start with the team competition. If we do well in the team event, the individual events will follow. Women’s singles, women’s doubles and men’s doubles are all in the medal box.”