Lee Hyo Jung to return to competition

Former Olympic and Asian Games gold medallist Lee Hyo Jung is returning to competitive badminton after a three-year absence.  The 34-year-old Lee last competed in late 2011 at Korea’s National Sports Festival (pictured) and has since given birth to two sons.

Her last team was Samsung Electromechanics but she left the team after a brief stretch as a coach and she told Korean daily The Donga Ilbo that she is keen to get back to the courts and will join Jang Ye Na and others on the Gimcheon City Hall badminton team.

Lee Hyo Jung retired from international competition immediately following her gold medal performance with Shin Baek Cheol at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.  She did mention to Donga a desire to compete in Rio but only in the context of joking about being jealous of the gold medal won in Incheon this year by Lee Hyun Il, who is the same age.

In fact a return to international play seems highly unlikely.  She is not among the shuttlers trying out for the national team next week.  One of her former world #1 team-mates Ra Kyung Min voiced a similar volition in 2009 but, after competing several times in domestic events, she never managed to compete overseas.  Ra – also a mother of two at the time – was keen to add an Olympic gold to the silver and bronze she did possess but Lee has already won gold and silver, in addition to her many other accomplishments.