Thank you narnia for your interesting input. I didn't know KDM has a Ph.D. This is very rare for a professional badminton player and even in other sports. I could only think of arguably the greatest badminton player from the US, the late Dr David G. Freeman from California, who was a medical doctor, a neurosurgeon. Dr Freeman was US Champion from 1939 - 1948 (no competition from 1943-1946) in MS (6 times), MD (5 times) and XD (3 times). He also won the All-England in his only try in 1949. He also scalped some great names from then Malaya in the Thomas Cup, And he also played other racket games proficiently such as tennis, squash and table-tennis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._David_G._Freeman Just wonder what KDM did for his Ph.D and did he achieve this after his retirement? Seems like sports education and the like must be a natural choice for him. Not too good news for Canada I'm afraid, as KDM does not think Canada could benefit as much from his experience even though he has set up a badminton academy there. And all along KDM remains a patriotic Korean. And his good wife Ra would only follow him. Since KDM is interested in polishing his English, ENG would seem to be a good place to go after Canada. At the same time he could imbibe a bit of English culture. Unless he finds Asian culture more at home, then MAS would seem a possibility as English is also used though to a less extent by players. Good luck to KDM and his partner Ra KM.
The news of his doctoral and post-doctoral study had been mentioned before.. ..as was mentioned a few times before, even as early as 2005. Here is one thread abt his plan: http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22438
Thanks Chris. It was mentioned briefly that "Kim earned his doctoral degree from Wonkwang University and is preparing for post-doc work while studying English in University of Calgary". No more updates so far.
Maybe. But in Korea there are already good coaches; his ex-playing partner HTK and LDS. And PJB is also thinking to come back to his mother country. KDM is still young enough to experience the world.
Hope the best for Ra...eventhough it is sad that many old players are out of retirement....It takes a lot to play in high level tournaments...
In 2006, he's got his Ph.D. in athletic physiology with the thesis: "The effects of athletics' over-training on the immune system, the concentration of lipid peroxide, and the revelation of anti-oxidization mRNA" (translated from Korean by narnia) And there are some more Korean players who have the Ph.D.: Kim, YeonJa, who is mother of Sung, JiHyun (who last week beat Zhou Mi), teaching in Korea National Sport University. PJB has got his Ph.D. last week http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1236642&postcount=25 Jeon JaeYoun is about to finish her Ph.D. thesis in Sports Psychology. And Dr. Lee JaeBok, who had taught ENG team for a while. .
Not impossible If she together with her xd partner has the determination and fit in terms of physical and mental strength Why not?
family affair Mommy Ra and baby Yong Dae to win XD ... cool Brother venkatesh will be there to cheer them up. Daddy Kim would be so proud. Would grandpa george@chongwei be there too?
China's veterans were still good in the seventies I read somewhere that the great China player Hou Chia Chang managed to beat Indonesia's then rising star Liem Swie King during the 1976 Asian Championships final. Hou was then a veteran, 37 years' old and King was only 20, an age difference of 17 years! That was why Hou, together with Fang Kai Hsiang and Tang Hsien Fu ("The Thing" who discovered Lin Dan) were considered great Chinese players during their prime. Will Ra be of the same calibre?
Here is a recent article of Ra Kyung Min from Badzine. http://www.badzine.info/index.php/n...ash/2038-canada-ra-starts-comeback-early.html
Their winning path is found here. http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=8C3CADA5-D12D-40DF-958D-CD0D1ECCA519&draw=1 Do you have any photos taken there?