April 29th TheStar SOUTH Korea number one singles Lee Hyun-il is looking confident in leading his team's quest for glory in the Thomas Cup Finals. And the world number four is taking the responsibility all in his stride. “I am ready to play against the top players in the Finals. I have played against the number ranked players of the other teams at one time or another and I see myself doing well against them here,” said Hyun-il. In the opening Group C tie against New Zealand yesterday, Hyun-il scored an easy win over John Moody to set South Korea on the road to a 5-0. But tomorrow, Hyun-il certainly has to bring out his best in the tie against Indonesia. It is a tie to decide the group winners and Hyun-ill will be up against Athens Olympics and world champion Taufik Hidayat. The winners of the tie will go into the top half of the knockout draw along with defending champions China. The runners-up will have Malaysia in their path in the quarter-finals. With a relatively weaker strength in the doubles for the Finals this time, South Korea will have to depend on the singles players to deliver. “For us to win against any of the top contenders, we are counting on Hyun-il to show us the way. There is an added responsibility for him to put us ahead,” said Korean doubles coach Tan Kim Her, who is a former Malaysian national player. South Korea have Shon Seung-mon and Park Siung-hwan a their second and third ranked players and they are expected to play against Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Simon Santoso respectively. Against New Zealand yesterday, South Korea fielded the scratch combination of Jung Jae-sung-Lee Yong-dae as their second pair. Yong-dae, whose regular partner Lee jae-jin was forced out of the team because of an ankle injury, was listed in a reserve partnership with Jung Taek-keuk. “On paper, it will be tough for our top ranked pair (Hwang Ji-man-Han Sang-hoon) to topple Candra (Wijaya)-Sigit (Budiarto) for a point. But we hope they can spring a surprise,” said Kim Her. “But, the match can go either way in the 21-point scoring system. We are hoping that they can spring a surprise,” added Kim Her.
