KOREA – Lee Yong Dae, Hwang Hye Youn pencilled in for Nat’l Tourney

Samsung Electromechanics have included rehabilitating injured shuttlers Lee Yong Dae and Hwang Hye Youn to their team rosters for the annual National Summer Divisional Badminton Championships, one of the biggest tournaments on Korea’s domestic badminton schedule.   Sandwiched in between a bi-nation challenge with Japan and the fifth leg of the BWF Super Series, the Li Ning Singapore Open, the summer championships will take place in Lee Yong Dae’s hometown of Hwasun, where the young star picked up two titles at last December’s Korea International Challenge.

However, Lee’s hometown fans would be well advised not to hold their breath.  This tournament includes both a team and an individual competition and Lee, who has been struggling with an elbow injury since last summer that kept him out of the recent Thomas Cup competition, only appears on the roster for the team event.  Women’s singles star Hwang Hye Youn, who injured her foot in a domestic competition last fall and who left the national team after spending a second month in a cast, was also named to the team for a domestic event in the spring but did not play.  Lee did play in that event but sat out the last two team ties.  Samsung will still be well-represented in both the women’s and men’s categories, however, with the latter featuring another Hwasun native, Asian Champion Cho Gun Woo, as well as Hwang Jung Woon, who hails from nearby Suncheon.

Apart from the pro division, all the top school athletes, from elementary to university, will be competing, including Youth Olympic Games qualifiers Kang Ji Wook and Choi Hye In, who will both be playing singles and doubles but not mixed.