By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
The lone Korean pair in the semifinals Lee Yong-dae and Lee Hyo-jung failed to advance at the All England Super Series, Sunday (KST).
The Beijing Olympics gold medalists were eliminated by the world No. 1 Indonesian pair Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir 16-21, 21-18, 8-21 in the mixed doubles semifinal in Birmingham, England.
With this defeat, Korea failed to produce a winner at the England Open for the second straight year and it is the first time that no one advanced to the final since 2007.
In the first set, Lee Yong-dae smashed the shuttlecock for a 12-6 lead but with his partner, Lee Hyo-jung, making a mistake at the net, the Koreans lost momentum and the first set.
The Lee-Lee duo, again, dominated the first part of the second set with an early 8-1 lead. But their mistakes near the net made it hard to close out the set, allowing the score to become tied at 17-17. Yet, the Koreans bounced back to even the match at one set apiece.
However, the Korean duo was disappointing in the third and was never really in contention.
The one consolation was that Lee Yong-dae was moving much more freely and didn't aggravate the elbow injury he suffered last year.
"During the tournament, Yong-dae said he didn't feel any soreness in his elbow," national team head coach Kim Jung-soo said.
"After we finish the next Super Series in Switzerland, we will review his situation in detail.
"If he is perfectly rehabilitated, we will increase his pace gradually, but if not, we are going to prepare a long term rehabilitation plan."
The Badminton Korea Association (BKA), however, needs to consider the present situation having learned a lot from Lee Yong-dae's performance.
When Lee was on his game, he dominated the court winning five international tournaments since the Korea Open in January 2009.
But after collapsing with the injury to his right elbow in August, Koreans have failed to generate impressive results.
"For the London Olympics in 2012, we have to start to look at a new generation for the women's doubles and mixed doubles," the head coach said.
"In the men's doubles, the pair of Shin Baek-chul and Kim Ki-jung is improving. They're the nation's No. 2 duo after Lee Yong-dae and Jung Jae-sung."