The Fall of Korean Men's Singles

The Fall of Korean Men's Singles - What Happened?

Рет қаралды 11,331

9 ай бұрын

Korea have had an amazing 2023 so far with their best ever All England performance, a Sudirman Cup silver, and coming out as the top team at the recent World Championships.
And historically Korea are also one of the most successful and strongest nations in all of badminton, with many World and Olympic Champions as well as a whole host of legends and BWF Hall of Fame athletes.
It's with that in mind that it is incredibly surprising that in the men's singles they only have 1 player inside the TOP 100 in the world, with NO PLAYERS high enough ranked to play the top tier of tournaments on the BWF World Tour.
This leads to the obvious question...HOW THE HELL HAS THIS HAPPENED?
Well...let me answer that for you as well as give my thoughts on whether or not Korea can turn this around.
#youtuber #youtubevideo #badminton #korea #bwf #benbeckman
Lonesome Journey by Keys of Moon | / keysofmoon
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music promoted by www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Game Over by ASHUTOSH | / grandakt
Music promoted by www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Undertow by Scott Buckley | www.scottbuckley.com.au
Music promoted by www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
creativecommons.org/licenses/...

Пікірлер: 103

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

Loving all the discussions going on in the comments...this is certainly a topic that goes beyond what I laid out in this video. Please feel free to add your own thoughts 🙌🏻

@hansenemanuel1002 9 ай бұрын

Can you create a video breakdown of the past frontcourt/playmakers in XD(mainly Zhao Yunlei, Ma Jin, Liliyana Natsir). What made them so dominant in the front court even though they have average athleticism?

@snehsrivastava7286 9 ай бұрын

I just wanted to add that LEE HYUN IL was a great badminton player in men's singles discipline who finished 4th in Olympics twice, lost to LEE CHONG WEI in 2008 in a thrilling decider set and lost to the LIN DAN in 2012.

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

Lee Hyun Il came in and out of retirement more times than I could count on 1 hand! He was a great player with one of the greatest asian games moments in 2014 where he won the team event for his nation on home soil...absolute scenes

@AgentJ2007 9 ай бұрын

⁠@@BenBeckmanBadmintonyes, people forget how good lee Hyun il was. He was a former world No.1 He also lead Korea to gold medal is 2002 asian games team event and 2003 sudirman cup where he beat Peter Gade in SF and Cheng Hong in final.

@traytyler9951 9 ай бұрын

No one was winning much in lee Lin era other then them lol(and Chen long later on)

@KeithHiew 9 ай бұрын

When he got older I felt LHI became sort of like a gatekeeper to the elite for the younger up and coming players. If you could beat him, you can think about challenging the likes of Lin Dan, Chong Wei or Chen Long. If not, you needed more training.

@yvesjimenez9284 9 ай бұрын

man, you would see these kinds of documentaries for NBA and other sports but it's also translating really well to badminton. great video!

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

Thank you so much. Many more to come

@aero204 9 ай бұрын

Great video. Enjoyed it as Korean myself. Can confirm that MS is SO weak in here... Even casual players in college participated in the Korean Open earlier this year

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

that's pretty crazy!

@tedman8571 9 ай бұрын

do you think the mandatory military service plays a significant role in the lack of men's singles development? In a discipline that historically takes several years of senior level experience before players can adjust to the physicality to compete at the highest level, a two year gap in your twenties would be extremely disruptive. There's also the inverse situation where a player may be ramping up to their peak, but have to stop to serve their military service. This may cause the doubles disciplines to become even more appealing, than it already is in Korea, as it usually doesn't take as long for junior players to adjust physically to the senior game.

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

That's a very fair statement to make and I did consider it too. Maybe effects it even more now players seem to take longer to develop now. But whilst it plays a part I felt it wasn't as big to make the video. But it is certainly a consideration point

@jimw8615 9 ай бұрын

How long is Korea NS?

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

@jimw8615 I believe it is 2 years unless you win Asian Games or get an Olympic medal. I believe that reduces it to 3 months and roughly 500 hours sporting community service.

@williambogebjerg 9 ай бұрын

awesome content bro

@benjiminchew8676 9 ай бұрын

Hey Ben I absolutely love your videos and how informative they are, no other badminton channel even comes close to the amount of work and information you put into your videos but I do think that a better mic will help your video quality even more

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

Thank you mate. Yeah it's been mentioned. Looking into getting that fixed in the near future. Appreciate the love and support (and advice)

@allowmetowander5511 9 ай бұрын

The thing i love about your video is not only in your content itself, but the comment section has that good quality badminton discussion going on

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

I love that too

@AkashDTV 9 ай бұрын

Haha Racket 선연단!!! Great vid again Ben!!!

@lamtszyui 9 ай бұрын

Great video.I watched one of Kim’s matches and he definitely has big potential and may bring the men’s singles of Korea back up.(also great to see racket boys:)

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

Hahaha...racket boys had to be used 😏

@saikrisb2852 9 ай бұрын

Hey Ben.. awesome videos...enjoyed all your videosz even on your analysis in bwf video's Here's a video for you, Lin Dan vs chong wei technical analysis.. why Lin Dan won so many games against chong wei

@LouiseAndersen1991 9 ай бұрын

I would love your take on danish badminton. How can a nation, with just 6 million people, can have some of the best (including THE best ATM mens single) succed against huge nations like China, India and Indonesia? Another take I would love, would be one about Caronlina Marin. How did she become so good? And of course An Se Young, who is just a monster atm

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

That's a lot of topics. Danish badminton one I'd like to dig into. There's a tonne of history to look through for that

@LouiseAndersen1991 9 ай бұрын

@@BenBeckmanBadminton well. Then you just have to make several videos 😅 I dont expect you to put it all into one. Also: are you going to make one on Axelsen? All depending on how well he does in the next year

@AgentJ2007 2 ай бұрын

@@LouiseAndersen1991part of the reason Denmark 🇩🇰 is so successful is that got a good club set up and infrastructure. There is a tournament going on almost every week.

@Beatstruck 9 ай бұрын

Good video! I was surprised to see Son Wan Ho play again out of nowhere earlier this year - surprisingly well, too, I might add. Hope he keeps improving and we get to see more of him. About interest breeding success, this can quite generally be applied to badminton as a whole as well. Very few European countries have been successful on the world stage in badminton, making it very hard to emerge as a popular sport here. Denmark proves that assumption by repeating their success decade after decade, and England to some extent as well. Imagine if badminton could become as big as tennis one day...

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

Yeah success breeds interest breeds success is indeed a global thing n applies outside sport too. Korea have just managed to maintain it over decades which deserves praise. You're right about Denmark too

@woah9637 9 ай бұрын

damn i usually don't comment but i love your vids man, keep it up

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

thank you so much! Glad you like them and will do

@bounce1603 9 ай бұрын

This also happen in my country Malaysia in men single and women single sector,in women single we only have goh jin wei, while in ms we only have 2 player on top 32

@dx5784 9 ай бұрын

Women singles are hopeless currently in malaysia 😅 We suffer the most in terms of consistency especially chia/soh, NTY in my opinion is still far from world class, it seems like we're in a endless loop of transitional period where there's a lack of leader unlike LCW back in the days to lead the national team.

@AnnaSue81 9 ай бұрын

@@dx5784 ng is world-class, but is still regarded as a "up and coming youngster". LZJ on the other hand... oh man what a falloff he had

@HAHA4625 9 ай бұрын

I actually think our badminton team is now better than it's ever been. Let's be honest, even though we love the sport we've never been particularly good at it. This current crop of players are competitive in all disciplines and we even have Chia/Soh who is up there with all the big boys. Sure, there's no generational talent like Lee Chong Wei, but overall this is the best I've seen team Malaysia.

@eth4n470 9 ай бұрын

@AnnaSue81 ng is most definitely not world class lol, don't get me wrong I'm a Malaysian and I support him, but he's literally only reached 1 semi final this year and is just ranked 19th in the world, how is that world class?

@syamilfuad17 9 ай бұрын

@@eth4n470 i think he can be world class at 23 years old and start winning world tours. He has just bulked his physique , pushed up his ranks. The more worrying are women singles and women doubles. Where the hell are BAM players 😢

@sawer8989 9 ай бұрын

Great and comprehensive coverage. As an Indonesia Badminton lover, i can relate what happened to our womans single. But at least we have a great pavement in the form of Susi Susanti

@pk1342 9 ай бұрын

I'd be interested to see your take on what I see as a decline in MS standards since the retirement of LCW/LD and CL. Is it just me or are the games very safe/uninspiring these days. Axelsen is dominating with his explosive game and overall explosiveness/fitness and consistency seems down imo. What do you think?

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

LCW and LD elevated MS to a crazy standard, both are huge legends (so is CL). I do feel though that because of that people are viewing today's men's singles as worse than it actually is. Even LCW has noted how good a number of the top guys are. Overall, from top to bottom I feel MS level is actually higher. Just the very top isn't quite up to prime LCW/LD but then again, I'm not sure we'll ever see that level again...I hope so though

@pk1342 9 ай бұрын

@@BenBeckmanBadminton I suppose what contributes alot to my impression is focusing mainly on the top 10 as representation and also the decline in standards of Chinese MS, which floor a whole seemed to be a never ending factory of amazing players (started watching in the late 90s/early 2000s) that set the benchmark. Certainly Denmark has upped their level and so has India, Japan and Taiwan. But I feel Korea and Indonesia after really struggling for talent right now. I still feel that players like Boonsak, Sony, Park SW, Wong Choong han, Chen Jin and Hyun il etc would be doing better on today's circuit than the current top 10 replacements. Chou I feel is an example of a player that crossed both eras and struggled in the previous era before having more success in this one despite being quite old.

@AgentJ2007 2 ай бұрын

@@pk1342I don’t there is a decline. You have to understand that those 3 players you mentioned on your original comment are probably the 3 greatest MS players of all time. If you compare any player to them, of course they are going to come up short. I personally think it’s just a different game/style that current generation MS player are playing. The game changes very quickly. Even Axelsen who was dominating in the recent years has not won any title or even made a final this year. Competition is more open now rather than a 2-3 horse race.

@sarth7649 9 ай бұрын

It was weird to see Heo disappear after such a promising showing at the Olympics.. hope it doesn’t happen to Kim Byung Jae! Although the loss to Cordon could’ve been a sign, at the time I just thought it was the pressure that got to him

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

Yeah I tried to find out what happened but couldn't. He seemed to drop off as fast as he rose up

@aero204 9 ай бұрын

@@BenBeckmanBadminton Can confirm as a Korean myself. There was a qualifying session in korea for their representatives in the 2023 year, and Heo withdrew from it. It is surprising that he lost to a college level player and to Lee Yun Gyu during the qualifiers before he retired. Heo still plays in samsung badminton team though.

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

@aero204 thanks for the info. That is surprising although he did just reach a final in Thailand. Maybe we'll see him back in the Korean team next year. He was a real talent

@reinartes7079 9 ай бұрын

@@aero204Just last week, he joined Thailand International Series. He lost in the final to Japan's Riki Takei .

@evanriviera5620 9 ай бұрын

@@BenBeckmanBadmintondo you know what happened with Heo Kwang-hee?

@melonusk6120 9 ай бұрын

indonesia once had greats like Susi Susanti and Mia Audina. Now, best we got is Tunjung (she is quite decent) which is dwarfed by big names like ASY or Akane Yamaguchi. The trend is not very promising for upcoming years either.

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

Indonesian WS in the 90s was simply insane. Even beyond the 2 you've mentioned they had some marvellous players. Tunjung is good and has been improving a lot over last year or so. I hope it continues and she in turn can help bring on even more women's singles players

@melonusk6120 9 ай бұрын

yeah, rock bottom is not a beautiful place to be. Indonesia's badminton federation (PBSI) has been under heavy scrutiny from the public for the lack of positive results lately. (apart from HK open) The involvement of politics in badminton is simply nauseating. The inconsistency of the policy makers has been one big crux for the federation since ages ago. Many former coaches and former players are left unappreciated and undercompensanted and simply chose to build the badminton legacy of other rival countries. 😭 @@BenBeckmanBadminton

@peetee2037 9 ай бұрын

what happened to heo kwang hee he had a pretty good 2021 year but hes gone now?

@lucashamilton151 Ай бұрын

Hey Ben, what do you think about the 4 young Chinese players in MS field who are dominating junior competitions? Hu Zhean, Wang Zijun, Zhang Zijie and Pan Yinlong. Do they have the potential to create another golden generation of Chinese men’s singles like in the late 80s and late 2000s?

@BenBeckmanBadminton Ай бұрын

I'll be honest, I haven't kept up with the junior scene as of late. But thanks to you I'll go check those guys out. Might be worth a video...

@BenBeckmanBadminton Ай бұрын

I'll be honest, haven't kept up with the junior scene for a little while. But with your comment I think I'll have to check these guys out. Who knows... Potential video...

@lucashamilton151 8 күн бұрын

@@BenBeckmanBadminton no more. Zhang Zhijie passed away. The reaction of the medical staff was so absurd.😢😢

@kasujung6202 9 ай бұрын

In Korea, people are more encouraged to play doubles rather than singles.

@vincentpoluan3514 9 ай бұрын

If Lee Hyun il peak prime in this era, i believe he would be number 1 in the world

@dx5784 9 ай бұрын

U left heo kwang hee out who's currently at 37, but the point proves itself anyway. Koreans tend to focus more on their speed and hard hitting ability but left out the essentials needed to be successful in MS, in my opinion it would be the footwork that let them down but who knows what the future will bring us.

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

Heo Kwang Hee is currently ranked 198 not 37. I was going to do a section on their playing style but on reflection I don't think it has been a big cause of the decline

@donghwakim7066 9 ай бұрын

@@BenBeckmanBadmintoni think the playing style really does have a big effect in this. lyd said this about a year ago. koreans mainly focus on the basic, meaning a solid defense, trying to push and moving opponents, and smashing any chance they get. they have a very basic and conservative playing style. and its very well proven that this playing style does work very well in doubles, its extremely hard to pull it off and win singles. like you said, asy is a very rare and generational exception, but especially for mens singles, playing with no specialties and just having a style where u just smash and play defense, its very hard to win.

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

@donghwakim7066 damn...I really should have kept that section in as that's exactly what I said and used lyd as the example. Plus I had Jan o jorgensen talk about the real physical, no error badminton era which coincided with Korea's best MS years. I won't doubt myself again

@andromeda2209 9 ай бұрын

@@donghwakim7066 in that case it is probably a good idea for KBA hired a good foreign coach to change how singles department especially in MS ike how in WS department with wong tat meng from malaysia before

@nomad.wedding 9 ай бұрын

I am currently in Korea on holiday, and after visiting a few clubs I agree with your sentiments. Rallies are mostly big lifts, big smashes and not much else - definitely don't see creative net play or even drives and deception. Everyone is expected to hit hard and hit down for every shot - predictable but very physical. Unfortunately for my short holiday here, I already got injured from my lack of fitness for this play style.

@kunn5182 7 ай бұрын

I think there is one factor could also play a tiny part here, 99-05, where korea has more great ms player, they have legendary Chinese ms coach Li Mao. Who later move on to Malaysia help lcw to become world no.1, and help Chen Long to win a Olympic silver when Cl is so close to retire

@BenBeckmanBadminton 7 ай бұрын

That could very well be a factor although I heard Li Mao's training was so tough even Lee Hyun Il couldn't handle it. Crazy!

@user-ks8om5jn8l 9 ай бұрын

I have also been thinking about Korea´s struggles in MS for quite some time, it feels like you copied plenty of what has been on my mind in your great video. Last year I watched Kim Byung Jae play at the WJC. I had never heard of him before the tournament, but could immediately tell he was going to be a contender for the title after watching him play just a few rallies. He also played XD in the WJC and probably got worn out physically which perhaps diminished his chances of winning the MS. He still got a bronze though. If KOR badminton wants to have a good MS-player for the future, KBJ has got to be their best bet. There is one big concern however: KBJ has not played a single international match since the 2022 WJC! To me that is a mystery. Does anyone know what has happened to him?

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

Oh wow...not a single one?! I know Korea have an incredibly tough selection process so maybe he struggled to make the team and get sent. I'm only guessing though. Hopefully someone can help u more than I can

@reinartes7079 9 ай бұрын

@@BenBeckmanBadmintonKorea in general just doesn't send their juniors to play international tournaments unlike Thailand, Taiwan, India, and Japan. I follow a lot of International Challenges just to see upcoming players but there are very few Koreans playing and usually they are above twenty.

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

@@reinartes7079 I thought that was the case too. A real shame

@mhd3802 9 ай бұрын

Unfortunately, Kim Byung Jae was eliminated from the national team trials

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

@mhd3802 these trials seem crazy hard and ruthless. Who made it in? How do the trials work?

@phrofile3613 9 ай бұрын

Idk what you're talking about. Korean men singles just DESTROYED Malaysian men singles in Asian Games yesterday. Im Malaysian btw 😭

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

And then it's turned back around in the individuals

@akshitgarg6730 9 ай бұрын

The Only thing Korea need to do is to develop the young MS players and give them the best possible facilities especially Physios and S&C coaches to avoid injury problems.

@haziq12ish 9 ай бұрын

And they just beat Malaysia in team event at the mens single discipline

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

And Indonesia...

@s.k.viswanath7441 9 ай бұрын

Please make a video about fall of kento momota

@happywolfie1980 9 ай бұрын

Not much to say about that one I'm afraid... the car accident and Covid were the clear reasons for his downfall

@s.k.viswanath7441 9 ай бұрын

@@happywolfie1980 yes me too know but if we have a video it will be better for others know

@reinartes7079 9 ай бұрын

@@happywolfie1980His back injury is a far bigger problem and sadly less talked about. Momota still has decent result in 2021 after his car accident. His back injury at the end of the year is what caused him to have massive decline in 2022. He tried to make a comeback in 2023, but again, had to skip many tournaments due to back injury.

@KeithHiew 9 ай бұрын

This didn’t age well for Malaysian fans. The media were saying how LZJ and NTY should lead the charge against S. Korea because of their weakness in singles. Turned out both lost to their respective opponents. NTY ranked 19 lost to LYG ranked literally 100 places lower. Ben, perhaps you would like to do a video: Why do Malaysian players find it so difficult to rise to the occasion, especially when the expectations are mounting.

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

Let's put that off after we see how Asian games individuals go. Both lzj n nty doing well

@yashkumarsinghal53 9 ай бұрын

please Can you make video about indian badminton please please

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

Give me time, it'll come. The rise of Indian badminton is definitely a story I want to make

@AnnaSue81 9 ай бұрын

oh hello

@Timmyjg2004 9 ай бұрын

I wish england would just get started 😂

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

haha

@Timmyjg2004 9 ай бұрын

Whos the person who beat kento in the Olympics??

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

Heo Kwang Hee

@aliffitri 9 ай бұрын

Suddenly MS Korean trashed Malaysian & Indonesian MS players in Asian Games few days ago

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

Then they both got beaten very easily in individual event

@keithivangatmen4540 9 ай бұрын

Can you do a momota video

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

It's in the pipeline

@TekkaiJon 9 ай бұрын

Lee hyun Il was another unlucky great player to be born in LD and LCW’s era.

@BenBeckmanBadminton 9 ай бұрын

To be fair he was around for about 5 years before LD and LCW haha

@TekkaiJon 9 ай бұрын

@@BenBeckmanBadminton and there was Chen Hong, PG, and TH to stop him.

@vincentpoluan3514 9 ай бұрын

I don't think Korean ever had a great MS player since the beginning, their goat probably Lee Hyun Il , whom i consider is in top 10 of the goat in MS. But other than Lee , they all just a mediocre player (I'm sorry, it's just my opinion)

@jeremiavictorius1345 9 ай бұрын

I think indonesia has been in that situation but in women's singles, but thankfully now we have tunjung who can compete at the elite level and indra widjaja as a coach who brought good results this year, and I agree with you if there is a successful player then the interest will arise and will bring more success, For example in Indonesia recently we have WS (mutiara) who won the badminton asia junior championships, we have ester wardoyo who won the indonesia masters and indonesia international challenge, and I hope that will happen in Korea too, if they can keep one promising player to go to the top level, then there will be other players who will emerge.