Korean badminton duo guaranteed gold

Korea’s Lee Yong-dae, right, and his teammate Yoo Yeon-seong celebrate after winning against Denmark’s Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen during the men’s double semifinal at the 2014 BWF Badminton World Championships at the Ballerup Super Arena in Copenhagen, Sunday (Korea time). / AFP-Yonhap

By Kim Tae-jong

Korea is guaranteed gold and silver medals in the men’s doubles at the 2014 BWF Badminton World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark because all participants in the finals hail from this country.

It will mark the first gold for the country at the contest in 15 years.

The men’s doubles final will see Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong, currently the No.1 duo in the world, take on Ko Sung-hyun and Shin Baek-choel on Monday (Korea time). No matter the outcome, a Korean team will take home gold medals.

Lee — the 2008 Olympic Mixed Doubles champion — and Yoo beat the former world No.1 duo, representing the host country during the semifinals, Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen, 21-12 and 21-18.

Ko and Baek, ranked 10th in the world, obtained an easy ticket to the finals, as their opponents in the semifinal — Kim Sa-rang and Kim Gi-jung also from Korea — forfeited the match due to Kim Sa-rang’s neck pain.

Even though the final match will be a showdown between fellow countrymen, the final is expected to be cutthroat. The teams also have history, with the members knowing each other perhaps a little too well. Until September, each duo’s current teammates were on opposing sides, as Lee teamed up with Ko, while Yoo and Shin were a team.

The country is assured gold at the championships for the first time since mixed doubles pair Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min won it in 2003.

In the men’s doubles, dynamic duo Ha Tae-gwon and Kim dong-moon won the last gold for the country in 1999.

Meanwhile, the Korean women’s doubles pair Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan were defeated by the Chinese team of Qing Tian and Yunlei Zhao in the semifinals.

Like Korea in the men’s competition, China is also guaranteed gold and silver in the women’s doubles as Tian and Zhao will set up an encounter with Xiaoli Wang and Yang Yu.