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Monday April 26, 2004
Tae-sang: Our best chance for glory



SOUTH KOREA will lose most of their senior players after the Athens Olympic Games in August. But before that, singles player Park Tae-sang will be hoping the veterans will play their roles in helping his country win the Thomas Cup in Jakarta from May 7-16.

The 25-year-old Tae-sang has vowed to play his part in helping Korea win their first-ever Thomas Cup.

“Our doubles players - Kim Dong-moon-Ha Tae-kwon and Lee Dong-soo-Yoo Yong-sung – will quit playing badminton after the Athens Games. It will be tough to win the Thomas Cup if they are no longer around,” said Tae-sang, the third-ranked singles player in the Korean squad.

“I am not sure if the other singles players will stay on. But this year is certainly our best chance to win the Cup. We have a strong line-up in the singles and doubles.”

The Koreans are drawn in Group B with minnows Germany and New Zealand. They have a good chance of reaching the semi-finals.

“Our top singles player Lee Hyun-il’s form is down now but Shon Seung-mo and I are doing fine. If the burden falls on me to win the crucial point, I will go all out,” said Tae-sang.

And no one should take Tae-sang lightly when his mind is set on achieving something. His recent scramble to make the cut for the Olympics is evident of his determination.

His stunning 15-11, 15-5 third-round win over world number 10 Chen Yu of China was probably the best match in the recently-concluded Asian Badminton Championships (ABC) at the Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium (KLBA).

“Hyun-il and Seung-mo are assured of their places in the Olympics. I wanted to be the third Korean player to make the cut and after some calculations I realised that I can make it if I can reach the semi-finals of the Korean and Japan Opens and the ABC.

“I have been consistent and there is a possibility that I may make it as one of the top 16 players in the world,” said the Busan-born Tae-sang, who is currently ranked number 17th after reaching the Korean Open semi-finals and Japan Open quarter-finals.

Having played badminton since he was 10-years-old, Tae-sang hopes to play for another two years before retiring.

“Probably, I will be there until the 2006 Doha Asian Games,” added Tae-sang, who lost to Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the ABC semi-finals. The other players in the Korean squad for the Finals are singles player Park Sung-hwan and the doubles pair of Yim Bang-eun-Kim Yong-hyun.

interesting but not surprising, ParkTS has confirmed that Kim/Ha & Lee/Yoo will retire after the Olympics. and i am sure so will Ra as well when Kim is not there.

this will surely leave a big vacuum to be filled by up coming players. is it me or is China about the only country with no problems of future players?

I have no concerns really, Vacuums get filled, sometime quicker than others, remember a few months ago we were talking about the demise of indonesian badminton, then they "find" luluk/alven, who have won big tournaments, they get flandy/eng back, santoso and sony improve and taufik returns, coupled with that sigit/trikush arent playing badly at the moment either.

Also kim/kim are number three ranked in Mixed even now, and kim/yim are top ten (i think). kim (girl) just won the ABC with lee, and in the future, with more experience she will be a very good player. park joo bong is training the doubles now, so maybe that was in mind of producing some new players.

Of more concern to me are Malaysia and Denmark. malaysia may have Choong/lee, roslin, and wong retire soon. They wil surely suffer. Denmark have a catalogue of older players: Gade, jonassen, rasmussen, eriksen/luungard, laugessen, camilla.

Maybe it will allow new countries to gain a foothold, Like germany who seem to be producing some quite good players (relative) now.

Also kim/kim are number three ranked in Mixed even now, and kim/yim are top ten (i think). kim (girl) just won the ABC with lee, and in the future, with more experience she will be a very good player.

I think the female 'kim' you're referring to is in fact Lee Hyo Jung? ;)

ahem...yes!! sorry :)

interesting but not surprising, ParkTS has confirmed that Kim/Ha & Lee/Yoo will retire after the Olympics. and i am sure so will Ra as well when Kim is not there.

this will surely leave a big vacuum to be filled by up coming players. is it me or is China about the only country with no problems of future players?

You're not the only one, I'm thinking along the same lines though I wonder what China will do with their women's team if Zhou Mi, Gong Ruina and Zhang Ning leave. They do have Xie Xingfang but I cannot recall anyone else at the moment.

Ra is definitely retiring after the Olympics. She wanted to retire after the last one - info from www.chinabadminton.com - and semi-retired after the Pusan Asian Games - according to a translated article by Robinhood - only to have Kim Dong Moon pull her back again.

Many of the players I grew up with over the past eight years have left - both the international scene and a void in my life. You grow to familiarize yourself with them, from not-so-famous upstarts to famous superstars to famous-but-over-the-hill-and-not-quite-able-to-deliver stars. Then, just as you have begun to get used to their presence, another Olympic year goes by and they disappear from sight.

It is sad to behold players with birthdates getting closer and closer to yours, until they finally move on and surpass yours. Then again, I'm already saving up for Botox injections 20 years down the road.

But I do wonder if anyone felt a void back then - when the likes of Zhao Jianhua, Yang Yang, Han Jian, Park Joo Bong, Kim Moon Soo and the Sidek brothers left the badminton scene, and if they felt that badminton without these people would even be badminton at all.

We all know that "new tidal waves push the older ones to shore". But for some reason, I'm wishing it doesn't have to be this way.