Men's badminton doubles team trying to learn from recent losses
Korean badminton players Kim Won-ho, left, and Seo Seung-jae speak to reporters at Incheon International Airport, Tuesday, three days after winning bronze in the men's doubles at the Badminton World Federation World Championships in New Delhi. Yonhap
The Korean men's badminton doubles players Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho are seeing themselves in an unfamiliar territory, having been held without a title at their past five international competitions.
The latest miss came at last week's world championships in New Delhi, where Seo and Kim failed to defend their crown and settled for a bronze medal. The world No. 1 team lost to fourth-ranked Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in the semifinals by 21-17, 21-18 on Saturday.
Seo and Kim won 11 international titles last year to tie a single-season record. While they remain at the top of the world rankings, Seo and Kim have shown some cracks of late, leading to concerns about their gold medal chances at the upcoming Asian Games in Japan.
Both players said Tuesday their latest loss provided them with a valuable learning experience.
"I am disappointed that we failed to accomplish our goal of winning the world title," Seo told reporters at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. "But ahead of the Asian Games, we both identified things we need to work on and how we should play going forward."
Kim echoed his teammate's sentiment and said, "I learned that we have to be quicker on our feet when making adjustments against different opponents."
Seo said he and Kim are being studied and analyzed by their opponents much more closely than in the past.
"There were many moments during matches that our opponents had done a really good job analyzing our style of play," Seo said. "I became conscious of that and it ended up affecting our play negatively. Ultimately, we have to focus on things we do well and try to maximize our strengths."
With two silver medals and three bronze medals at their past five competitions, Seo and Kim will try to return to the top of the podium next week at the China Masters before traveling to Japan for the Asian Games.
They will try to become the first Korea men's doubles team to win an Asian Games gold since 2002. The quadrennial competition may not feel all that different than the world championships, where all four semifinalists in the men's doubles were Asian teams.
"We would love to win the gold medal because it has been a long time since our country last won the men's doubles title, and we want to focus on the process as much as the outcomes," Seo said. "We will do our best one match at a time."
Kim added: "We have to stay locked in on what we are good at and stay patient in every match."