PETALING JAYA: Winning a world title is already a rare feat, but defending it is an achievement only a select few have managed.
Top seeds and reigning champions Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho are now out to etch their names in history as they begin their campaign at the World Championships in Paris today.
The Korean pair may be the favourites, but they remain cautious, acknowledging the fierce competition in men’s doubles where any pair is capable of mounting a challenge for the podium this week.
“We are really thankful that people think we can win the world championships but we believe it is very open and anyone can win,” said Seung-jae. Seung-jae claimed the title two years ago in Copenhagen with Kang Min-hyuk.
China’s Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng are the most successful pair when they won three times in a row from 2009 to 2011 after first winning in 2006, while compatriots Li Yongbo-Tian Bingyi achieved the feat in 1987 and 1989.
And if Seung-jae succeeds this year, he will follow in the footsteps of Indonesian legend Ricky Subagja, who won back-to-back titles with different partners, first with Rudy Gunawan in 1993 and then two years later with Rexy Mainaky.
For Seung-jae, returning to the Adidas Arena feels surreal as only a year ago he and Won-ho were on opposite sides during the Paris Olympics.
Back then, Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung lost in the mixed doubles semi-finals to Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun, who went on to win silver after falling to China’s Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong in the final.
It was a painful outing for Seung-jae, who not only missed out on bronze after losing to Japan’s Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino but also saw his men’s doubles run with Min-hyuk cut short in the quarter-finals by Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.
“It feels really good to come back to Paris after the Olympics. We’ve good memories here. He (Won-ho) was my rival at the Olympics, but now he is my partner and I feel like he is a pillar to me,” added Seung-jae.
