LEE JAE JIN REPLACES HA TAE KWON IN KOREA'S THOMAS SQUAD Thursday, May 06, 2004, 9:47:14 PM www.tuc2004.com South Korean Thomas Cup team finally received approval from the International Badminton Federation (IBF) to replace Ha Tae Kwon with Lee Jae Jin. Ha Tae-Kwon --usually combined with world's best doubles player Kim Dong Moon, has been pulled out from the team following his back injury. "We had submitted the request for replacement during the Asian Badminton Championship in Malaysia last week and we immediately follow up the request as soon as we arrived in Jakarta. IBF delivered its approval this morning," Joo Bong, Korea's men's doubles coach said. The former world's best doubles player however said the absence of Ha Tae Kwon has weakened Korean Thomas team's strength. "But the young players have shown their capability as we chose Lee Jae Jin to join the team, he said. The fourth seeded South Korea is predicted for at least semi-final placings. The Koreans are estimated to meet Indonesians or Chinese team in the semi-finals. Park Joo Bong admits that Indonesia and China have dominated other countries but he said that China was stronger than Indonesia that it has three strong singles players.
Where was that article from? I will be intrested to see how the Korean MD players play since neing coached in some way by PJB. I thought the women had been given a few tweaks that make them superior to CHN now, but will be intresting to see if the men can make similar improvement-Could give them more chance than we give credit, as their third singles will be a tough one (Park)