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South Korea, Bahrain Take Asian Championships as Training Session
While most athletes at the JVC Asian Badminton Championships are aiming at titles, another pack of shuttlers will be using the event as training for future competitions.
The Badminton Association of South Korea's international director Han Woo-goo said South Korea was fielding its second-string shuttlers for the event.
"We didn't send our best players because we want our youngsters to gain as much international experience as possible. Even host Indonesia and China are also fielding their second-layer shuttlers," he was quoted by the Jakarta Post Tuesday as saying.
"Our real target is to prepare them for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. In Korea, we consider the Olympics the highest achievement in sports. Even our government drafts the sport budget according to the Olympic schedule. Unlike China, Indonesia and Malaysia, we don't pay too much attention to the Thomas and Uber cups. Perhaps because we never won either of the cups yet," he said.
"Since our schedule follows the Olympics, the national team was dissolved soon after the Games. The national team will only be reassembled before the Korean Open next January. That's why we haven't send our best doubles players. But we still sent our best singles players, Lee Hyun-il and Park Tae-sang," he added.
He also said South Korea would try to aid the development of singles shuttlers by organizing championships for students.
Similarly, Bahrain's team of four young shuttlers is only trying to gain as much experience as possible.
Bahrain team manager Khalil Ibrahim Shaheen told the Jakarta Post his shuttlers were being prepared for future competitions, mainly among Arab countries.
"Our junior players are our best hope for the future. We groom them in international tournaments in an effort to prepare them. For the medium term, we want to be the champion of the Arab countries. Bahrain is always number one among Arab countries," he said.
It was reported that there will be 150 shuttlers from 18 countries and areas participating to the championships, to be played at the Senayan Indoor Stadium starting on Wednesday.
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