MEN’S BADMINTON UPSETS POWERHOUSE MALAYSIA TO REACH QURTERFINAL WITH INDONESIA
South Korea’s men’s badminton team set the tone on the first day of the team competition at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games. The Koreans defeated Malaysia 3-1 in the round of 16 of the men’s team event at Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, on Monday. The Koreans dropped the doubles event, their flagship event, but bounced back with strong singles performances to reach the quarterfinals World No. 47 Jeon Hyuk-jin (Yonex) outlasted his opponent, world No. 16 Lee Jijia, in a close 2-1 (21-14 14-21 21-18) victory. With the advantage in their favor, Korea suffered an unexpected defeat in the first doubles match. The world No. 4 pair of Seo Seung Jae and Kang Min Hyuk (Samsung Life) went down 0-2 (17-21 9-21) to the world No. 5 pair of Aaron Chia and Soo Yin Lee .However, with the match score 1-1, Lee Yoon-gyu (KIM Cheoncheong) changed the tone of the court with a 2-0 (21-11 21-16) victory over Ng Tzu-yong .Lee is ranked 119th in the world, 100 places below Nguyen (19th).In the fourth match of the day, Kim Won-ho (Samsung Life) and Na Sung-seung (Kimcheon City Hall) didn’t miss a beat as they defeated Ong Yoo-shin and Teo-ei (World No. 9) 2-0 (21-16 21-18).Kim Won-ho and Na Sung-seung are ranked just 332nd in the world, having only just started playing doubles together .Waiting for the Koreans in the quarterfinals after coming from behind is No. 1 seed Indonesia .The Indonesians have the world’s No. 2 singles players in Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and No. 5 Jonatan Christie, as well as the world No. 1 doubles team of Pazar Alfian-Muhammad Ryan Ardianto .The men’s team’s performance will be crucial to the team’s goal of defending their 스포츠토토존 Jakarta-Palembang 2018 gold medal with medals in all seven events.