WD - FINALS : [WD] Will KIM/KONG[N°5]sisters take the French Open Umpire State Building ?

2021 TOYOTA Thailand Open winners, King Soyeong and Kong Heeyong beat their senior team mates Shin Seungchan/Lee Sohee [N°3] in the city of Bangkok. Luck? Progress? The statistics say it all : 5:3 head-to-head record  might show a slight preference for the defending champions  Shin and Lee.  A common point in these two Korean pairs : they are never tired… matches that last longer than 1h30 don’t even impress the  brave ladies from South Korea. First match of the final day, local and international fans were ready to taste the delicious badminton final course . Shin and Kong are both powerful attackers while Lee, the partner of Shin’s herself is a respectful hard smasher. As for Kim, her precision in her drop shots demonstrates nothing but her intelligence. In her recent matches, the fans started noticing more aggressive smashes from Kim.

The first set had  long first rallies between the Koreans. But the more experienced Shin /Lee quickly left their juniors behind with a 8-point halo. Kim/Kong did quite a beautiful saving job by shortening the point difference to only 4 points. 18/15. When Shin took her turn to defend the front net zone, she showed the audience her multiple skills. Towards the end of the first game, both sides players made more mistakes and the seed Number 1 Shin/Lee  took the first set.

On the second set, Kim reinforced her tandem with more back court smashes. It did work. They managed to catch up to their opponents. But the world Number 3 pair was not easy to reach. Their cold blood forced their challengers to make much more mistakes. What’s worse, kim/kong’s coordination was severely deranged while they were trying so hard to fill up the gap between them and their country fellows. This situation sadly continued to the last point of the match :21/17, 21/12. Say hello to a new championship  title, Shin Seungchan and Lee Sohee!!!

“ It was a good game with Kim and Kong.”

“There was still much pressure for this tournament because we were defending our glory of 2019. But we are  glad we added another victory to our 2021’s achievements.” As they were asked about the celebration, the best Korean players  reminded us of the fact that they were above all two 28-year-old young girls :“ we’d like to go shopping and maybe a small party but we will make sure to stay focused for our future tournaments.”

On the other hand, the runner-up pair also shared their post-match feelings with us :“  we didn’t play our best match today, but for one thing we are sure, we will definitely do better for our next match.”