Two doubles pairings from Korea Republic victorious in preliminary rounds

by Simon Daish

Men’s Doubles

Cho Eonrae and Kim Donghyun managed to avoid an early exit in the preliminary qualifying rounds, after the Korean pair saw off the host nation’s Jens Lundqvist and Jon Persson in a difficult encounter.

Having required five ends to negotiate the Slovenian duo of Darko Jorgič and Deni Kožul in the previous round, Cho Eonrae and Kim Donghyun would have been hoping for a slightly more comfortable ride in the last preliminary stage but Jens Lundqvist and Jon Persson had the home crowd fully on their side and another exciting tie unfolded in Stockholm.

The opening three games were all won by a two point margin with Cho and Kim establishing a 2-1 lead by the conclusion of the third end, however, a strong victory in game four for Lundqvist and Persson forced the match into a deciding game much to the delight of the home supporters.

Only one more game was up for grabs and following a fine showing from Cho and Kim it was the Korean team up that sealed safe passage through to the next round, bringing Lundqvist’s and Persson’s Men’s Doubles journey in Stockholm to a halt (11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7).

Women’s Doubles

Main draw qualification secured by Ji Eunchae (pictured) and Lee Eunhye after strong qualifying performance (Photo: Ireneusz Kanabrodzki)

The other success for Korea Republic came in the Women’s Doubles category with Ji Eunchae and Lee Eunhye combining well to defeat Chinese Taipei’s Hsiung Nai-I and Lin Chia-Chih.

Hsiung Nai-I and Lin Chia-Chih received a bye in the last 32 of the preliminary stages while Ji and Lee had to participate in a match against Japan’s Saki Shibata and Maki Shiomi, and the Korean duo’s win against Shibata and Shiomi helped to inspire enough confidence to beat Hsiung and Lin in the final round of qualifying.

Despite Hsiung and Lin claiming game one with a victory in deuce, it was Ji and Lee who led after game three and even though the pair from Chinese Taipei were able to draw the tie level it was the partnership of Ji and Lee who prevailed (11-13, 11-8, 11-7, 3-11, 11-7).

However, the Women’s Doubles draw did see one pair from Korea Republic eliminated from the competition with Choi Hyojoo and Park Joohyun losing out to Lin Po-Hsuan and Wang Yi-Ju of Chinese Taipei (8-11, 12-10, 12-10, 11-6).