South Korea Prevails

On May 29, 2017, the badminton gods favored the South Korea team as they won the Sudirman Cup in Gold Coast, Australia over the powerhouse China team.

This can go down on the books of badminton history as the South Korea squad play their hearts and lungs out just to upset the China team. The Oppas won the title Sudirman Cup for the first time in 14 years with a very emotional 3-2 victory over the 10-time champions China at Australia’s Gold Coast on Sunday.

This is not the first time that the South Korea won this title, they’ve also won the Sudirman Cup in 1991 and 1993, fought back from 2-1 down in the final claim victory. As they win the match point the entire South Korean team descended on Choi and Chae and swamped them in celebration, with Chae eventually climbing off the floor in tears.

All would have to agree that the two stars had an outstanding performance, Choi and Chae who ranked 14^th in the world, against the 2^nd ranked Chinese combination of Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong. It was a very nerve cracking game as Rio Olympic champions Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan gave China a confident and proud start, rolling through the opening men’s doubles match.

Also the World bronze medalist Sung Ju Hyung levelled the final when she conquered He Bingjiao in the women’s singles in 49 long minutes. On the other hand Chen Long, the reigning Olympic champion, two-time World champion and All England champion, was far too strong for Jeon Hyeok Jin and took 47 minutes to wrap up 21-10, 21-10 victory to give the China team a commanding 2-1 lead.

But then the third world-ranked pair Chang Ye Na and Lee So Hee took the final touch into a fifth match with a 21-19, 21-13 convincing win over Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan in a very long 55 minute women’s doubles battle.