Korea does a doubles shuffle

The Korean National Badminton Team has decided on its entire doubles roster on the eve of the departure for Qingdao of its twelve-member Sudirman Cup squad.

All but one of the 8 doubles players bound for Qingdao were exempt from the qualifying tests of the past few days and all of the other stalwarts re-affirmed their places on the team.   In addition, 8 new members were selected with 7 others being let go.  The most notable casualty was German Open runner-up Kim Sa Rang, who made the transition from singles to doubles in January but has since been left off both teams, for now.

Unlike with the singles, the doubles is a youthful group.  Jung Jae Sung is the only one over 25 and all of the new 8 are under 23.  The youngest are 16-year-olds Shin Seung Chan and Lee So Hee (pictured top).  These two won the German Junior title this year as well as the under-19 title at the recent Surabaya Cup event and will be hoping national team training will serve them well at the Asian and World Junior meets this year.

Lee Haeng Ham with Canada's Toby Ng at the 2010 Korea Open © Yves Lacroix for Badmintonphoto

Lee Haeng Ham (pictured) is one of two men returning to the national team.  But unlike his university team-mate, 2007 World Junior Champion Chung Eui Seok, Lee has taken the long way back to the Taeneung Athletes’ Village.  After leaving the national team in early 2009, Lee journeyed to Canada with the Wonkwang University team and stayed on in Calgary to train under Kim Dong Moon for close to a year, even donning a Canadian jersey for a pair of tournaments.  Now he is firmly back in the fold as the team prepares for the World Championships and next year’s Olympics.

Korea’s full doubles squad: