KOREA OPEN Day 3 – The Shon Also Rises

KOREA OPEN Day 3 – The Shon Also Rises

Joachim Persson of Denmark became the first singles seed to fall in the 2009 Yonex Korea Open Super Series. Shon Wan Ho (pictured with Persson) dumped the world #6 player in 2 easy games to set up a quarter-final against Peter Gade, who advanced along with all the other seeds. The big story in doubles was the losses of both of Indonesia’s World Champion pairs, even if the Seoul crowd seemed to have eyes only for Lee Yong Dae and Lee Hyo Jung. By Don Hearn, Badzine Correspondent live in Seoul. Photos: Badmintonphoto (live) Nova and Lilyana Stuck in Second For the third year running, Indonesia’s Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir have failed to make it past the second round of the Korea Opens. Just like in 2007, the last time the 2006 champions came here as top seeds, they lost a tight third game to mark their exit from the one of the pro circuit’s most lucrative event. The upset perpetrators, India’s Diju V / Jwala Gutta, unlike their counterparts from two years ago, will not have to face the likes of Gao Ling in the quarter-finals, however. Instead, they will take on 8th seeds Jauhari/Wijaya, one of two Indonesian pairs still alive in the draw. The other Indonesian pair, Kurniawan/Irawati, has the unenviable task of taking on the favourites, defending champions Lee Yong Dae / Lee Hyo Jung. The Koreans were obviously the main attraction for the crowd, which was double the size of the previous day, many having heard that the Olympic champions would be in action. Lee/Lee had a rousing reception and ran roughshod over Denmark’s Larsen/Schjoett-Kristensen, winning in just 23 minutes. All three of Korea’s new pairs fell by the wayside in the second round, however. Han Sang Hoon / Ha Jung Eun put up the biggest fight but couldn’t pull off another upset as Kurniawan/Irawati took care of them in 3 games 21-16, 7-21, 21-19. Elsewhere, Robert Blair came dangerously close but refused to bow to Chinese Taipei’s Fang Chieh Min on consecutive days. Blair and Imogen Bankier (pictured) edged Fang/Cheng 21-18, 15-21, 21-18. Miryang’s Secret Shon Shines As Athens silver medallist Shon Seung Mo is living out his retirement as a Junior National Team coach, another of the same name and provenance has taken his turn in the limelight. Shon Wan Ho also hails from Miryang, the small southern city that gave the recent, award-winning film Secret Sunshine its title. Shon, too, has been a well-kept secret. Just 20 years old, he has been one of the best singles players of his age group but has been left at home in recent years as others in his age group, like Hong Ji Hoon, have gotten plenty of international exposure. On Thursday, though, Shon made the most of his chance and gave Joachim Persson no quarter, beating him 21-14, 21-13. “This was the first time I’d played Joachim Persson. In fact I had never played any Danish player,” Shon explained after the match. “I found that he has a very strong attack and his strokes are very precise. Still, he seemed to be prone to errors today and I think I kept my errors down and this helped me. “I studied a video of his first-round match and went over it with Coaches Ahn Jae Chang and Li Mao. This is what we’ll be doing tonight to prepare for the match against Peter Gade, too, because, of course, I’ve never played him before either.” All other favoured players came through their matches in straight games except for Poland’s Przemslaw Wacha, who came back from a one-sided defeat in his first game against India’s Arvind Bhat to win it 11-21, 21-14, 23-21. Wacha was clearly on edge in the final minutes of the match when he let a few shuttles drop in. He earned himself a yellow card when he threw his racquet at the equipment box in a rather unothordox victory celebration. Japan’s Sho Sasaki may have beaten Park Sung Hwan of Korea 3 times last year but that seemed like ancient history on Thursday as Park dominated their match, winning 21-12, 21-4 in just 22 minutes. His real test comes with his quarter-final rematch against Lee Chong Wei, who in turn dominated Park in last week’s Malaysia Open final. Pi and Zhou School Local Challengers In the women’s singles, two local players who have only recently returned to the national team – one as the oldest player and the other as the youngest – took to the courts to take on two of the strongest players in the game today. Top seed Zhou Mi was threatened in her first game against Bae Seung Hee, who tied it at 18-all before losing her nerve and letting Zhou finish it. Zhou went on to take the second game with ease and the match ended 21-18, 21-10 in favour of the top seed. Pi Hongyan had the opposite experience with 17-year-old Sung Ji Hyun, nearly blanking the Korean teen in the first game but letting her stay close in the second. Pi still won comfortably 21-1, 21-17 as Sung went for treatment for a painful cramp in her thigh. Another favourite, Wang Chen, let her challenger take one game before she finally slammed the door in the deciding game. Wang sent Malaysia’s Julia Wong (pictured above) packing 21-14, 15-21, 21-5. She goes on to face Korea’s Hwang Hye Youn for the first time since Hwang beat her in the 2007 Swiss Open. Both of the 2008 World Junior Championship finalists exited the Korea Open in the 2nd round. Sayaka Sato of Japan was dealt with summarily by Bulgaria’s Petya Nedelcheva while Saina Nehwal (pictured) lost to Indonesia’s Adriyanti Firdasari in 3. The women’s doubles was similarly upset free. Local teenagers Eom Hye Won / Jung Kyung Eun advanced over the 8th seeds with a walkover and will be the first opponents of 2004 Olympic Champions Yang Wei / Zhang Jiewen of China, in the quarter-finals. Gao Ling / Wei Yili, will also be facing a local pair as Ha Jung Eun / Kim Min Jung, will have their first match of the tournament against the Chinese veterans. Double Doubles Disappointment for Indonesia While many expected a semi-final like last week’s Malaysia Open, both Kido/Setiawan and Yulianto/Gunawan failed to produce. On adjacent courts, the two Indonesian pairs lost to Chinese Taipei’s Fang/Lee and Malaysia’s Choong/Lee respectively, both in thrilling matches. Fang/Lee (pictured) made the quarter-finals here last year, where they lost narrowly to the Danes but they hope to do one better in 2009 and reach their first Super Series semi-final in over a year. To reach the final, however, the Taiwan pair must get past Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah, who ended the campaign of last week’s runners-up in three games. Although the Malaysian veterans led throughout the deciding game, they nearly let it slip away when they watched their 7-point lead dwindle to one but they hung on and won 11-21, 21-16, 21-19. Bona Septano / Muhammad Ahsan are now the only Indonesians left in the draw and they will meet one of two remaining Danish pairs. Korea has two pairs left in the quarter-finals but they are up against each other. Han Sang Hoon and Shin Baek Cheol (pictured below) showed nerves of steel in the last match of the day as they came back from 17-19 down in the third game to edge out 6th-seeded Malaysians Chan/Chew 21-16, 13-21, 22-20. “Because I’ve been concentrating on mixed doubles the last year, not much is expected of me so I came into today’s match without any pressure to perform,” said Han after the match. “I played Chan right here two years ago when we both had different partners and we won so I had some idea what to expect. I knew that his defense was excellent so Baek Cheol and I determined be patient, knowing that we might have to smash five or six times before we’d get a return short enough to end the rally. “Tomorrow against Yong Dae and Jae Sung, I’m just going to concentrate on enjoying the game. There is no pressure on us so we’re just going to try to play some happy badminton.” Indeed, Han is facing the mighty Jung/Lee for the second week in a row and with a less experienced partner than last week. The winner will take on the victor between Paaske/Rasmussen and Logosz/Mateusiak, two pairs with winning records against the Asian Champions. For complete 2nd round results from the 2009 Yonex Korea Open Super Series, please CLICK HERE