2012 London Olympics: Jae Sung, Yong Dae kickstart their campaign in perfect style
Men’s Doubles experts Jung Jae Sung-Lee Yong Dae kicked off the proceedings in London Olympics by trouncing Howard Bach-Tony Gunawan in their opening match on July 28, 2012.
This Group D match remained in full swing for two games at Wembley Arena and was resolved with final result of 21-14 and 21-19.
The victorious Korean team that are the second seeded pair of this mega event, stamped their supremacy in both segments of the battle and setup next clash with World Number 13 Japanese duo Naoki Kawamae-Shoji Sato.
On the other hand, Howard and Tony had no reply to their rivals’ brilliance in the game and knelt down tamely.
In first set of the match, Jae Sung and Yong Dae stepped forward cautiously which resulted in 3-5 margin in the beginning but they geared up themselves and gathered some valuable points at steady pace to establish a comfortable lead.
They mounted pressure with 7-5 and then made their challengers armless with an intensive attack just before the interval.
The US shuttlers made every effort to regain their dominance but they could not get the required rhythm. They made some unforced errors which resulted in 8-11 total before the mid-game break.
Later part of the game was completely dominated by the Koreans as they did not give their challengers even a single chance to storm back and wrapped the opening part of the battle with concluding figure of 21-14.
However, next game was not a one-sided affair as the twosome of Howard and Tony put all they had to avoid a straight-set defeat.
They employed unusual tactics and gained a decent three-point advantage in 7-4 but couple of fatal mistakes brought them down to 9-7 score.
The partnership of Jae Sung and Yong Dae looked at its best in next couple of rallies as both shuttlers showed superb coordination to finish first half with a decent margin of 11-9.
Though, they faltered in third quarter of the game but it did not harm them much as they reinstated their supremacy with four back-to-back points.
They dominated ending rallies masterly and ended this battle with a tight yet decisive figure of 21-19.
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