Can Shon Wan Ho resurrect Korea’s men’s singles badminton?

Shon Wan Ho is embraced by his coach Shon Seung Mo, former Olympic silver medallist

Shon Wan Ho’s India Open Superseries win is one of the best things to have happened in recent times in badminton. It’s been long since someone who’s not Chinese or Lee Chong Wei has won a men’s singles Superseries title from a competitive draw. Although it’s still too early to predict what exactly this means for world badminton, the positives outweigh the negatives.

To begin with, it will hopefully give some momentum to men’s singles in Korea, a discipline in which they should have excelled at but have not for a variety of reasons. Korea has always been famous for its doubles; it is strange that they have not given the same attention to singles (They do have a good crop of women’s singles players, but they aren’t yet in contention for the major titles).

Over the last six to seven years, there has been such a poverty of good Korean men’s singles players. Lee Hyun Il and Park Sung Hwan have carried the burden for long, but they are on the decline. It’s a rather bleak comment on the game that Hyun Il came back from retirement and was yet good enough to break into the top-ten (he’s now No.7).

Despite Hyun Il and Sung Hwan’s occasional title triumphs, Korea has always been more focused on the doubles. Shon Seung Mo won the Olympic silver medal at Athens in 2004, but that success wasn’t capitalized upon. It was significant that Shon Seung Mo was in the coach’s corner as Shon Wan Ho beat Chong Wei for the India Open title, and there is a poignant photograph of him kneeling down in celebration as his trainee lies flat on the floor after converting match point.

After the India Open victory, Korean coach Kim Ji Hyun acknowledged its significance. “Well, he can win a medal at the Olympics,” she said. “He’s a dark horse, so you never know (about the Olympics). He beat Peter Gade and Chong Wei. The younger generation (of Korean singles players) is coming up. So you just watch us!”

It’s hard to make out from one title victory whether Shon can go on to become a top-ten player, or more importantly, to become a consistent challenger to the very best from China, which is the ultimate test for any badminton player. To beat Chong Wei in the final was creditable, but the world No.1 was coming from an injury layoff and might not have been at his best.

What we saw of Shon was a fast, aggressive player who was nerveless at the net and boundless in his energy. “I worked hard to improve my net game, and my physical condition is also good. That helped me against Chong Wei,” said Shon Wan Ho after the final.

A strong Korean team is of vital importance in a post-London Olympics world. One hopes, for the sake of world badminton, that he will go on from here. Shon is no newcomer – he has been playing since 2007, although he became a regular on the Superseries circuit only in 2009.

It remains to be seen how far Shon can go and whether he can revitalize Korean singles badminton. The example of Kenichi Tago is a stark reminder of the pitfalls of predicting success too early. Tago had, in a sensational All England campaign in 2010, beaten Bao Chunlai and Chen Jin before falling to Lee Chong Wei in the final. His zest and verve during that tournament seemed to mark him out as a player for the future, but he hasn’t done anything of note since then. If Shon can step up to the plate, we will have something to cheer about after the impending retirements of some of the greats of contemporary badminton.