Dong-moon: Difficult but not impossible by Star Online DOUBLES specialist Kim Dong-moon has not given up hope on South Korea making it through to the Thomas Cup semi-finals. The 27-year-old Dong-moon, who formed a formidable partnership with Ha Tae-kwon, believes that his team will be able to upset China in their final Group A tie tonight. If they lose, Denmark will advance with a victory over Sweden. South Korea and Denmark have one win and one defeat each. The Koreans were beaten by the Danes and they defeated Sweden. China won their two ties against Sweden and Denmark. “It certainly looks difficult because we have to beat China 4-1 to qualify for the semi-finals. If we beat them 3-2, we have to hope that we can qualify on a (games) countback,” said the Dong-moon, who has forged a partnership with Tae-kwon for the last four years. “We can win two points from the doubles. We hope that our singles player will pull us through.” The second Korean pair comprise Lee Dong-soo-Yoo Yong-sung. The top two ranked Chinese pairs are Zhang Wei-Zhang Jun and Cheng Rui-Wang Wei. The Korean singles comprises Lee Hyun-il, Shon Seung-mo and Park Tae-sang and they will come up against a Chinese side who have Xia Xuanze, Bao Chunlai, Lin Dan, Chen Hong and Luo Yigang in their ranks. On a possibility of a doubles player taking up a singles role, the two-time All-England champion flashed a smile and said that it was all up to the coaches. “All the doubles players can play singles. In South Korea, the doubles players have to play in the singles in our national championships. “Last year, I played the singles, doubles and mixed doubles. But our singles players are well-prepared for this Thomas Cup,” said Dong-moon. In the last two months, the Koreans have beaten Chinese players in the singles. Hyun-il upset Xuanze in the final of the Japan Open; Seung-mo defeated Chunlai in the Korean Open semi-finals; and Tae-sang eliminated Chen Hong in the third round of the Korean Open. Dong-moon added that he hoped that all the players in the team would rise to the occasion and play above expectations. Dong-moon has won all the major titles in the world in the mixed doubles with partner Ra Kyung-min. But with Tae-kwon, they still do not have winners’ medals in the Thomas Cup, Asian Games and Olympics. “With Tae-kwon, we have won many titles and have lost only four to five times in our four-year career. The only two pairs who have beaten us are Indonesia’s Tony Gunawan-Candra Wijaya and Malaysia’s Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah,” said Dong-moon, who with Tae-kwon won the men’s doubles title in the 1999 World Championships. And Dong-moon will be quietly praying for South Korea to clear a very high hurdle tonight.
