Shin Baek Cheol dropped from Korean national team

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Shin Baek Cheol (right) is very unfortunate to be part of the Korean team that has too many talented doubles players. (photo: AFP)

Seoul: Shin Baek Cheol who partnered Ko Sung Hyun to pull off one of the biggest upsets in the history of badminton World Championship final by defeating their compatriots, World No. 1 men’s pair Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon-Seong 22-20, 21-23, 21-18 to win the world title in 2014, is no longer part of the Korean national team.Shin Baek Cheol (right) is very unfortunate to be part of the Korean team that has too many talented doubles players. (photo: AFP)

Despite Shin’s impressive rankings in both men’s doubles and mixed doubles – he is currently ranked World No. 6 in men’s doubles (with Ko Sung Hyun) and World No. 10 in mixed doubles (with Chae Yoo Jung), he has narrowly missed the cut for the Rio Olympics in both events. According to the Olympic qualification rules set by Badminton World Federation (BWF), one country could only enter a maximum of two pairs for doubles events in Olympics if both pairs are ranked in the top eight. Nevertheless, the Badminton Korea Association (BKA) have released a statement in early-May confirming that they would only send World No. 1 Lee Yong-Dae/Yoo Yeon-Seong and World No. 3 Kim Gi Jung/Kim Sa Rang to Rio; while only Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na are eligible for the mixed doubles competition in Rio since Ko/Kim are the World No. 2 in mixed doubles.

After he knew he wouldn’t be going to Rio, Shin did not participate in the Korea national team tryouts that was held in mid-May. Few days after he left for the Indonesia Open Superseries Premier that kicked off on May 30th, 2016, he realized he has been dismissed from the Korean national team roster.

At the Indonesia Open, Shin and Ko eventually lost to No. 1 seed Lee Yong-Dae/Yoo Yeon-Seong 12-21, 16-21 in the quarter-finals. Shin told reporters that he might take some time off to think about his future. He also made it clear that he did not intend to quit the sport entirely. In fact, he was hoping he could get a chance to compete for a spot at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

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