Source : http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/5/7/sports/10858417&sec=sports Saturday May 7, 2005 [size=+2]Dong-moon, Kyung-min return to help S. Korea defend Sudirman Cup[/size] BY LIM TEIK HUAT PETALING JAYA: The formidable mixed doubles pair of Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min are making a comeback to help South Korea defend the Sudirman Cup title in Beijing next week. The world champions hung up their racquets after the Athens Olympics last August but have been drafted back in to help the South Korean challenge in the world mixed team competition. The duo may have not appeared on the international circuit in the last eight months since their shock defeat in the quarter-finals of the Olympics to Danish pair Jonas Rasmussen-Rikke Olsen but their presence and experience will still be greatly welcomed by the South Korean team. Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min have returned to bolster South Korea's hopes to defend the Sudirman Cup this year. Also in the 18-member strong Korean team is Ha Tae-kwon, who partnered Dong-moon to win the Athens Olympic men's doubles gold medal and Olympics men's singles silver medallist Shon Seung-mo. But the South Koreans will surely miss the absence of top woman singles player Jun Jae-youn. The Korean girl, who is ranked seventh in the world, is still recovering from a ligament injury she picked up in the Swiss Open three months ago and is not in the team list submitted to the International Badminton Federation (IBF). Hosts China will be fielding their big guns as well in a strong bid to avenge their loss in the previous tournament in Eindhoven two years ago. World number one Lin Dan and Olympic champions Zhang Ning, Yang Wei, Zhang Jiewen, Gao Ling and Zhang Jun leads the 24 member strong Chinese team onto the courts. Indonesia, the semi-finalists two years ago, will be relying on Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat, world number two men's doubles pair of Alven Yulianto and Luluk Hadiyanto and reigning World Championships silver medallists Candra Wijaya-Sigit Budiarto to fire up their challenge in Group B of Division One. Denmark, who beat Indonesia to the bronze in 2003, have also named their strongest players in a bid to become the first European country to win the Sudirman Cup. Their team includes Peter Gade-Christensen, Kenneth Jonassen, world champions Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen, Olympic bronze medallists Jens Erikssen and Mette Scholdager, and reigning All-England mixed doubles champions Thomas Laybourn and Camille Rytter Juhl. South Korea are in Group A of Division One with Denmark, England and Thailand. Group B of Division One comprises China, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Sweden. Only three countries have won this event since its inauguration in 1989 – Indonesia, China and South Korea. ----- It's official
