Jeonju City: In a scintillating display of badminton, 35-year-old Korean Lee Hyun Il turned back the clock to defeat his 20-year-old compatriot Jeon Hyeok Jin 21-12, 24-22 in men’s semi-finals at the Korea Masters on Saturday.
After Jeon levelled the score at 22-22 in the second set, Lee Hyun Il’s maturity and experience proved pivotal when he started pushing the shuttlecock to Jeon’s back corners and converted an easy smash towards Jeon’s left side to put himself at 23-22 lead. Lee continued to move his opponent towards the baseline, scoring his match point through a cross court smash towards Jeon’s left hand side to advance to the Korea Masters finals. Lee is certainly no stranger to the Korea Masters finals, as he last won the Korea Masters title two years ago when he beat Korean Hong Ji Hoon 21-18, 21-12. Lee will clash with Lee Dong Keun in the men’s finals on Sunday.
Lee Dong Keun on the other hand, pulled off a massive upset when he stunned No. 1 seed Son Wan Ho, 21-13, 21-16 in 52 minutes to reach the Korea Masters final.
No. 2 seeds in men’s pair Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol of Korea who hasn’t lost a set in the tournament, gained a clear edge in the semi-finals match by beating No. 4 seeds Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen of China 21-14, 21-15 in 31 minutes to set up an all-Korean men’s doubles finals against No. 3 seeds Kim Gi Jung/Kim Sa Rang on Sunday.
Kim Gi Jung/Kim Sa Rang hardly broke a sweat in the other men’s semis, when they saw off Lee Jhe-Huei/Lee Yang of Chinese Taipei 21-17, 21-14 in just 25 minutes.
Interestingly, Ko Sung Hyun will clash with his regular men’s doubles partner Shin Baek Cheol in the mixed doubles finals, with Ko partnering Kim Ha Na and Shin pairing with Chae Yoo Jung.
Meanwhile, both women’s doubles No. 5 seeds Chang Ye Na/Lee So Hee and No. 6 seeds Jung Kyung Eun/Shin Seung Chan have already secured the gold and silver medals for the Korean camp when both pairs will meet in the finals in Jeonju City on Sunday.
At 182 cm, women’s No. 2 seed Sun Yu of China showed her versatility, speed and strength to dispatch No. 3 seed Bae Yeon Ju of Korea 21-8, 21-8 on Saturday which kept Korea from sending players to the finals in all 5 events. Sun will face No. 4 seed Sayaka Sato of Japan who defeated Shen Yaying of China 21-12, 21-15 in other women’s semi-finals.
