He is definetly in the top 2, PSH appears to have disappeared in the last 6 months, (military service ?) and Shon Wan Ho is still improving. Nope he doesn't have any BWF points and therefore isn't ranked, although there is no question about it, he definetly still has the skill and ability.
There isn't much of a domestic ranking system. Only 3 tournaments a year have individual competitions, one of those (sports fest) only allows one entry per province or city and only one (the nationals) has players from pro teams such as Lee and Park playing in the same draw as university team players such as Shon Wan Ho and Hong Ji Hoon. Lee Hyun Il beat Park in the Summer champs in June but lost to him in the QF of the nationals last December (where Shon lost to Hong Ji Hoon in the semis), didn't play in the sports fest in October, which Park won, and won the Summer Champs in 2009, where Park was beaten by Jang Young Soo in the semis. So yes, he's obviously considered to be among the strongest players in the nation.
LHI is simply amazing......entered final in his first appearence in international tournament after two years off.
HE still plays actively in Korea and spars with the Korean Team.. I guess he is still VERY Fit. Will find out how he fares tomorrow against LCW.
Thank you very much for the info. I find it much more exciting to watch LHI's play than PSH's. Probably that's why I am a little biased towards LHI. The reason I was confused about the domestic ranking system is because Li Mao did mention that Choi Ho Jin wasn't even ranked the 6th in the national team(in terms of strength) when he beat Lin Dan in EAG last year, which prompt me to think that there might be a domestic ranking somewhere in the team. Anyway, cheers for the info! Looking for an upset by LHI in tomorrow's final.
Lee Hyun-il has one of the most smooth footwork and all I have seen... can I use the word 'graceful'? I predict a hard time for LCW, and possibily an upset from LHI.
He does now that he is back on the national team, i.e. since the runup to the Thomas Cup. Between Beijing and this past spring, however, the only sparring he got with national team members has been at those 3 or 4 domestic tournaments each year. Until late last year, he was playing with Kimcheon, so he had Jang Young Soo to spar with for a few weeks in 2009 but at his new pro team at Gangnam Ward, there are quality players but no top singles players to spar with. That has all changed since his return to the national team, of course.
Well, last July, they had a tryout for players who wanted to play singles on the national team, and Choi won 6 of 3 matches, a record bested by Park Sung Hwan and Jang Young Soo (9-0), Hwang Jung Woon (8-1), Kim Sa Rang (7-2), and matched by Lee Cheol Ho (who also beat Choi), Shon Wan Ho, and Hong Ji Hoon so that may be what he meant by sixth. Or he may have been referring to ongoing sparring among the players who were selected. Either way, Lee Hyun Il, Park Tae Sang and Shon Seung Mo and other players not on the national team would not have been included in the reckoning.
Question is whether he could handle LCW's smashes, although I also notice that LHI has somewhat employ more smashes in Macau.
Heard LHI's picked up an injury? Not sure about that, but 1 thing is for sure is that it is a shame that we won't get to see the clash between LCW and LHI in MACAU
Thank you very much for the information. That make sense now. However, I have to say that I am dissapointed with the final today. LHI forfeited the match to LCW due to ankle injury and the match was not play. Rumors said that Lee Hyun Il picked up the injury during the training before the final but I seriously doubt so. When he was giving the shuttle souvenir to the crowd, he seemed to be fine and no cumbersome and abrupt movement whatsoever. I suspect that the KBA has the motive of protecting him from competing with LCW so that he hold the physcology advantage should he meet LCW in Asia games. My gut feeling told me that KBA feels that he is not ready to play LCW at the moment and would like to let LHI have more preparation before he play against LCW again. Of course the above is just my mere speculation. If this is the final of Olympic/All England/ World Championship, I don't think LHI will forfeit the match to LCW today. Just my 2 cents.
Lee Hyun ill in chinese taipei open..haha [video=youtube;7PfJPm5EHDY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PfJPm5EHDY[/video]
I take my hats off to Lee Hyun Ill for clawing his way up the world ranking from 200+ to below 20 following his stellar performance in the 2011 Wilson Swiss Badminton Open. He retired following the 2008 Olympics and made his come-back in 2010 following persuasion by the Korean National Badminton Academy. This former world number one had to play the qualifying rounds in many tournaments to enable him to compete in the main draws and yet he went through the process diligently. How many players would do that except perhaps for a few and I doubt you can include any Mas player there. If LHI had not retired, he could have won a few more titles, super series and gold prix. He may win a few GP titles in his come-back but it is doubtful he could win any SS title but who knows?
This is not the first time lee did it. He was WR1 during the early of 2000. In fact, he came out of retirement in 2006, having to play in qualifying round in SS tournaments late that year. Beating Lin dan in KO SS final 2008 and in the final of MO 2008, reach the semifinal of Olympics 2008. Looks like he is trying to repeat his feat again. However I have to said that once you reached a high level is easier for you to regain that level again(after retirement) because of the experience and you know what you can do. Unlike the youngsters who are still trying to find their way to excel.
LHI took only about 1 year after came out from retirement and now he already beating CJ.........amazing guy !!