Copenhagen hosts the World Championships for the fifth time next week, 40 years after it first welcomed the planet’s best shuttlers to the competition in 1983.
That, incidentally, remains the only edition men’s doubles was not won by a Korean pair when contested in the Danish capital. At each of the next three World Championships there, Korea emerged champions.
Park Joo Bong/Kim Moon Soo won in 1991, Ha Tae Kwon/Kim Dong Moon in 1999 and Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol in 2014.
While China have formidable men’s singles and women’s doubles record there, Copenhagen is interestingly the only city in which the Koreans have had success in men’s doubles in the last 33 years. Their sole world crown elsewhere came in Calgary, Canada, way back in 1985.
In fact, the 1999 and 2014 finals were all-Korean and the latter edition also saw them bag a bronze, making them the only nation to leave a World Championships with all three men’s doubles medals. They didn’t return emptyhanded in 1983 either, taking home bronze through Lee Eun Ku/Park.
This year, Korea again arrive with strong contenders in tow – ninth seeds Kang Min Hyuk/Seo Seung Jae and 12th seeds Choi Sol Gyu/Kim Won Ho.
Choi/Kim have the German Open title to show for their efforts this season while Kang/Seo come into the tournament as champions of the most recent HSBC BWF World Tour event – the Australian Open. Also winners of Malaysia Masters in May, the world No.6s currently sit second on the HSBC Race to Finals rankings.
Will one of them keep Korea’s unique Copenhagen run going?
1983
Bronze: Lee Eun Ku/Park Joo Bong
1991
Gold: Park Joo Bong/Kim Moon Soo
1999
Gold: Ha Tae Kwon/Kim Dong Moon
Silver: Lee Dong Soo/Yoo Yong Sung
2014
Gold: Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Chol
Silver: Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong
Bronze: Kim Gi Jung/Kim Sa Rang (shared with Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen)