Tokyo’s out, Yong-dae just happy to still be in the game

IT’S not all about the Olympics for men’s doubles specialist Lee Yong-dae (pic). The South Korean has vowed to keep playing competitive badminton although he admits that his hopes of making his fourth Olympic appearance in Tokyo from July 24-Aug 9 is as good as over.

Yong-dae and partner Kim Gi-jung are currently ranked 36th in the world and are unlikely to make the cut when the Olympics qualification ends on April 30.

Only the top 16 will qualify and their teammates and world No. 9 Choi Sol-gyu-Seo Seung-jae are the best bet to represent the nation at the Games.

Yong-dae, whose 2019 season was marred by injury problems, said he would be just happy to return to form and improve on his ranking.

“After struggling with injuries last year, I had no idea where we were heading to, ” said the 31-year-old Yong-dae.

“Our ranking has dropped drastically, so Olympic qualification is out of the question for now.

“But we’re aiming to keep it going and improve ourselves each day, each tournament, although it’s going to be difficult to reach our previous best.”

In his prime, Yong-dae was best known for forging a successful men’s doubles partnership with Jung Jae-sung, Ko Sung-hyun and Yoo Yeon-seong. He did even better in the mixed doubles with Lee Hyo-jung when they went all the way to win a gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

He also scaled the world No. 1 ranking with all the teammates, highlighted by longest streak of a 117-week at the summit with Yeon-seong.

He was also regarded as the King of Superseries in the doubles, having won 43 titles including six in the mixed doubles.

Yong-dae, however, missed out on the world title not once but three times at the edition in Kuala Lumpur 2007, Hyderabad 2009 and Copenhagen 2014.

His best men’s doubles effort at the Olympics was a bronze in London 2012 with Jae-sung.

In 2016, Yong-dae announced his retirement but two years later, he made a comeback to join forces with Gi-jung.

The duo made an immediate impact by winning the Spanish Masters and Macau Open before their progress was hampered by Yong-dae’s injury issues.