By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Before teaming up, South Korea's Lee Hyo-jung and Lee Yong-dae had one silver medal between them in Olympic badminton competitions.
But after deciding to work together as a mixed doubles team in 2007, their collaboration paid off with an elusive gold.
The Korean pair was never seriously challenged in their 22-11, 21-17 victory over Indonesia's Liliyana Natsir and Nova Widianto in the mixed doubles final at the Beijing Olympics Sunday.
The gold, the eighth overall for Korea in these Games, is the country's first in mixed doubles since Kim Dong-moon and Kil Young-ah topped the competition in Barcelona in 1992.
The Korean badminton players finished their Olympic campaign with a gold, sliver and bronze, marking the country's recommitment to a sport it once dominated but had been losing grip in recent years.
The Lee-Lee pair entered the match as slight underdogs against the Indonesian duo, ranked as the world No. 1, but then displayed pure dominance over their opponents once the shuttlecock was tossed up.
The Koreans came roaring out of the gate and opened with a 9-3 lead, with Yong-dae firing from the back and Hyo-jung cleaning up in front of the net. After a series of blunders allowed the Indonesians to close the deficit to 9-6, the Koreans went on a tear again and took the first set 21-11.
The Koreans kept their momentum at the start of the second set, building an 11-4 lead and looked to be cruising toward a win. However, the Indonesians finally displayed some urgency as they rallied to make it a 13-10 game.
The Koreans responded emphatically, with Yong-dae scoring on a smash and consecutive shots by Hyo-jung expanding their lead to 15-10. The pair looked unstoppable as their lead grew to 19-13, but then gave up four consecutive points to their opponents that kept the match interesting.
However, Yong-dae scored on two straight bullets to seal the deal. The Indonesian duo continued to struggle against the Koreans, losing its third consecutive match to their regional rivals, including the matches at the Malaysia Open and Korea Open earlier this year.
Korea had bagged a badminton gold in every Olympic Game since 1992 aside of Sydney in 2000, but looked to be destined to return home without a top prize in Beijing.
Yong-dae, paired with Chung Jae-sung, was a favorite to win the gold in the men's doubles, but was knocked off by Denmark's Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen in the round of 16.
Their countrymen Lee Jae-jin and Hwang Ji-man managed to win the bronze in the men's doubles, while the pair of Hyo-jung and Lee Gyeong-won lost to China's Du Jing and Yu Yang in the final of the women's doubles.