Lee Yong Dae ( 이용대 / 李龙大 ) / Ko Sung Hyun ( 고성현 / 高成铉 )

LYD and KSH warming up today at HK Open

[video=youtube;-68YjojLp8c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-68YjojLp8c[/video]

 

^ Read that it was a shoulder/hip injury Ko has sustained, thus forcing the withdrawal.

I just hope it isn't serious and they withdrew for precautionary reasons.

 

Yeah, that was an epic battle

 

There's no such thing as a more explosive smash... Either it's harder or it's not.
Or did you mean Ko needs more preparation, i.e. isn't as explosive in his movement? Either way, I think he and Lee will be the pair to beat come the 2016 Olympics. They already look rather solid, and with time they will grow into a real partnership and eliminate more and more weaknesses (like the misunderstandings they still have from time to time, or trying too hard to get Ko to the back)...

 

And since the chinese gold medalists are likely to be injury-ridden for the remainder of their career, the top is noticeably lower than before. Not that there aren't competitors It'll be fun to see the new era of mens doubles.

 

^ SolsticeOfLight: Yeah, seems like Cai/Fu are battling injury concerns, and I'm not too sure if they would ever be at their best again. I personally doubt it.

"The top is noticeably lower than before". Exactly. That is one of the main reasons why I feel this pair is doing so well comparatively. They have almost no competitors at their level from the 2012 Olympic era except Boe/Mogensen and maybe Tan/Koo. But the latter seem to be very erratic as of late and I'm not too sure if they can buck up. Lee/Ko also usually have a very clear route to the finals in their draws. Just looking at the recent Korean Open draw, almost all the higher ranked Chinese players were not on their side of their draw. Tan/Koo were in their way... well, let's just say that I dont have much confidence in Tan/Koo to make much of a dent as of now. I'm in Korea watching them, whilst Lee is still great, Ko is still making his same old mistakes and being very inconsistent in his defence. He didnt look nervous as usual but it could be due to the vociferous home support. I didnt watch the Finals (queuing up to buy tickets is a pain in the behind here, but that's another story) but I heard it was a tight game and could have gone either way. But still think it was a great win for them.

Thus I think it is too early to say that they are "the pair to beat come the 2016 Olympics". It's still a looonnggg way off and many countries would have great contenders by then. I'm banking on China to come out with 1-2 solid pairs by then. Not a fan of theirs, but they always deliver. They would definitely be ready by 2016.

I feel that Men's Doubles has reached a pretty low era now post-Olympics - given all the injuries, the retirements, splits in pairings and all the younger and inexperienced players getting their chance now. I think Lee/Ko are doing super duper well, but I personally wont call them the "greatest" or anything to that effect right at this moment. I will wait for more solid contenders in MD to arrive and make the field more competitive and difficult before I pass that kind of absolute judgment. Just my two cents.

 

2013 Korean Open Victory Interview


Interviewer: At which point during the match did you believe you could win?

Ko Sung Hyun: "As soon as we changed sides while leading 11-7 in the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] set, I believe we could take it."


Interviewer: In the first set, it started with a relatively slow pace, but as the game went on you came back stronger

Ko Sung Hyun: "I felt nervous as I’ve never beaten this pair before. There was a sense of burden, but I felt more comfortable as the match went on. I was able to reduce errors at the same time and I was playing better and better. When I played against them, that sense of burden disappeared. I believe next time, we’re able to produce the same results."

Lee Yong Dae: "There was a very strong drift in the stadium today as experienced in the semi-finals. But today it felt a lot stronger, maybe due to the amount of spectators. It was very easy to hit the shuttle long at times when I played smashes. But as soon as we adapted, we played even better. In comparison, when Denmark tried to attack, a lot of the times it landed out."


Interviewer: What are the strengths of today’s rivals?

Lee Yong Dae: They were serving very well. Their short and flick serves integrated together was hard to deal with. Also, because they are tall, their smash power and angle is very good and defending wasn't easy.


Interviewer: What are your strengths that you’ve improved on?

Lee Dong Dae: Ability to score more on the serve. When I’m serving, it’s difficult for my opponents to predict and attack with their return.

Ko Sung Hyun: Been more consistent and able to reduce errors. Defence has also been good throughout the competition and been very steady in overall performance.


Between Denmark’s Boe / Mogensen and China's Cai Yun / Fu Haifeng, which is more difficult to play against?


Lee Yong Dae: “Denmark is more difficult. Their net game is very good. They’re also very tall players and its sometimes difficult to bypass their defence. China has a lot of competition experience as well. They play relatively simple, but also stable. Their performance in competitions have often been good."


Interviewer: What were your preperations for Korean open?

Lee Yong Dae: “In Korea, prior to the tournament, coach Kang Kyung Jin trained our attack patterns. He is left-handed, like Boe, so this training seems to have achieved results."


Interviewer: What are your plans from here?

Ko Sung Hyun: "Continuous sparring ( rallying ) for longer duration. I also lack concentration and this is something I need to work on. My simple errors have to be reduced. I’ll also need more exercises for defense."


Interviewer: What are your ambitions for 2013?

Lee Yong Dae: "Sung Hyun and I still haven’t achieved world #1. To reach that ranking , we must perform well in large competitions such as World Championships. We have not experienced winning the World Championship, so our goal is the world Championships champion and reach #1 in the world rankings."


Your ranking is now 10th. You how much this win will enhance the ranking?

Lee Yong Dae: "The rankings should rise as we produce results. This Korean open title should increase our ranking to 5th or 6[SUP]th[/SUP] place . If we were to win in next week's Malaysia Open or come runner-up, our ranking should rise to 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] or 4th."





New Hear source: 일간스포츠 노컷뉴스
Finishing / Translation: Heong

 

Thanks for translating, Heong...

 

The winning disguised drop shot from Ko at matchpont was awesome!

 

Well; it certainly wouldn't be bad advice to copy JJS
He's improved a lot since I last saw him, but he does still have some basics to sort out. It's good that he admits his faults however. More progress coming soon, I hope

 

Thanks a lot for translating the interview!

This win over BoMo was so important!! Was great to watch. Esp. Ko Sung Hyun stepped up his game after the first set!
To partner LYD with KSH was definitly the right decision imo.
To be true I believe they will be pretty much unstoppable and soon no.1 (bc BoMo only play selected tourneys). Cai/Fu and Bo/Mo are the only real threat. WC13 and AE13 will give us some more insight. Koo/Tan always have problems with Korean pairs, Bod/Man should be a good force as well (Not sure why they don´t play much lately, probably bc of injury).
Get another SF thriller at the MS vs Koo/Tan underway plesase

 

Are there any videos of these recent games you guys talk about?

Would like to see how Ko is doing lately. He was very weak in defense and didn't have an smash on par with JJS last time I watched a video of him playing.

 

Search for the bwf channel on youtube, they have the latest tournament videos on there. Also, when DID you watch him the last time? 2004? He's had a great smash for ages, one of the things that got him to the 2009 AE XD Final....other parts of his game indeed needed work. Wouldn't call his defense 'very weak' though as it's lightyears ahead of anything Boe can do I think in the Top10 of MD Lee, Mogensen, Koo, Kim Ki Jung and Cai Yun defend better than him....the others are on par or weaker imop.

 

Thanks..

'Very weak' is a bit of an exaggeration! It just felt a little disappointing that defensively he was no where near JJS. I remember seeing opponents cotton on to this and picking on him repeatedly. I like this pair a lot but it seems he needed to improve to prevent opponents exploiting the hole in their partnership is what I meant to say. That's why when someone says Ko has improved a lot, I'm intrigued to see it.

In terms of smashing, Ko's smash was not much better than LYD's imo (when I last saw him play). I know it's not all about smash speed, but it certainly helps! Especially, when you have a variation between the pairing. I think he has the accuracy and consistency but it just needed about 10-15km/h more pace to make the difference.

I saw videos of LYD/KO play a few matches since they paired up after the Olympics. Can't remember which ones, French open comes to mind?

 

Well I certainly think his smash is better than LYD's - not only does he get better angles (slightly taller+bigger jump), he also generates more pace. LYD can smash rather hard, but only when he winds up for it, and his 'normal' smashes are noticeably slower. Ko, on the other hand, has a pretty hard smash at all times, and his all-out smash is harder than Lee's as well. I agree that his smash is not as hard or as well-placed as Jung's when he has little time, though. Jung was a master of getting into good position with very little time and could thunder down even very flat clears, where Ko's height actually puts him at a disadvantage.
I also agree that Jung's defense was better than Ko's is - even with his marked improvement.

His fastest smashes are always in the Top10 of the tournament, so he doesn't need much improvement. As they're aiming to be THE best, though, he should probably aim to be the hardest smasher (apart from Fu, maybe )...let's see what the Korean coaches think [although I guess they're more eager to improve net and mid-court play first as that's where you get the attack and that's where he's lacking atm, although his net play is just as good as Jung's imop]

 

True; Ko only has a small speed advantage to his smashes, when you compare, but Ko can smash a lot more than LYD.
LYD won't smash for a whole match, whilst Ko can (and does).

They'll want to improve his consistency first. He was awesome in the Korea Open Semi-final, but nerves got to him in the Final. It didn't cost them this time, but you can be sure it's considered a big weakness.

 

Half-true - usually his top smashes are 10-20km/h faster than Lee's best. Was just the same with Jung (my example being the 2011 WC SF, Jung smashes in the mid-280s there, while Lee got a few over or around 270). Let's see what they do in the faster arenas....Korea is always very slow, both due to the hall and the shuttles.