Lee Hyun-il

Lee Hyun-il (; born 17 April 1980) is a former badminton player from South Korea. He is a former World and Asian Championships bronze medalist, and was part of South Korean team that won the 2003 Sudirman Cup as well the gold medals at the 2002 and 2014 Asian Games. Finishing twice as 4th position in Olympics (2008 & 2012), he is currently coaching the Korea National Women's team.

Career

2002 Asian Games Lee competed in the 2002 Asian Games where he showed signs of promise as an ace singles player for team Korea. In the men's team event, Lee dominated the opponents he faced in the tourney, completing all three matches less than 30 minutes and allowing only seven points in the semifinals and eight in the final. Team Korea eventually won their first men's team gold medal since 1986 when Park Joo-bong and Kim Moon-soo led the team.

2002 Asian Games – Men's team Date Round Result Score Opponents October 6 Quarterfinal Win 15–11, 15–7 Hidetaka Yamada October 7 Semifinal Win 15–5, 15–2 Lee Tsuen Seng October 9 Final Win 15–3, 15–5 Rony Agustinus

2003 Sudirman Cup At the 2003 Sudirman Cup held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Lee helped his team to win its third Sudirman Cup title, winning all three singles matches. Though many great doubles players from South Korea had won numerous international competitions, team Korea had always struggled to win the Thomas and Sudirman Cup competitions due to the lack of top men's singles players. However, Lee, the winner of the 2003 Swiss Open, showed spectacular performances through the Sudirman Cup tournament, not dropping a single set. In the semifinal, Lee defeated 2001 World Championship runner-up and 2001 All England Open semifinalist Peter Gade 2-0, which led his team to a 3-2 victory over Denmark. Lee won another 2-0 upset victory over world number one ranked Chen Hong in game 1 of the South Korea's final team event against China.

2003 Sudirman Cup Date Round Result Score Opponents March 18 Group 1A Win 15–5, 15–5 Rasmus Wengberg March 22 Semifinal Win 15–9, 15–12 Peter Gade March 23 Final Win 15–10, 15–12 Chen Hong

2004 Olympics Lee competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics, which was his first Olympic appearance. Lee easily defeated Stuart Brehaut of Australia in the first round. However, he was surprisingly eliminated in the second round by Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand.

2006 At the 2006 IBF World Championships held in Madrid, Spain, Lee captured his first World Championship medal in the men's singles event. He defeated Chetan Anand, Jan Fröhlich, Eric Pang and Chen Jin before losing to Bao Chunlai of China in the semifinals.

2006 World Championships – Men's Singles Date Round Result Score Opponents September 18 First Rd Win 21–18, 18–21, 21–10 Chetan Anand September 19 Second Rd Win 21–10, 21–4 Jan Fröhlich September 20 Third Rd Win 21–16, 21–6 Eric Pang September 21 Quarterfinal Win 21–14, 19–21, 21–12 Chen Jin September 22 Semifinal Loss 15–21, 19–21 Bao Chunlai

2008 Olympics In 2008, he defeated top rank players Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei in the Korea Open. He participated in the Beijing Olympics, where he reached the semi-finals before being defeated by world number one, Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia, and then being beaten by Chen Jin of China in the bronze-medal playoff.

Retirement and comeback After the 2008 Olympics, Lee announced his retirement from international badminton and only competed in national competitions. However, in April 2010 he came out of retirement after much persuasion from the coach and teammates to fill the void of singles players in the Korean national squad. In May 2010, Lee participated in the 2010 Thomas Cup and played in two singles matches.

2012 Summer Olympics Lee lost to Chinese Chen Long in the badminton bronze-medal playoff on 5 August 2012.

2019 Lee who joined the Miryang City Hall team since 2018, decided to retire from the team on 22 November 2019.

Achievements

World Championships Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2006 Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad, Madrid, Spain Bao Chunlai 15–21, 19–21 Bronze Bronze

Asian Games Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2002 Gangseo Gymnasium, Busan, South Korea Taufik Hidayat 7–15, 9–15 Silver Silver 2006 Aspire Hall 3, Doha, Qatar Lin Dan 3–21, 10–21 Bronze Bronze

Asian Championships Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2005 Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad, India Kuan Beng Hong 11–15, 4–15 Bronze Bronze

Asian Junior Championships Boys' singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 1998 Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Endra Feryanto 8–15, 5–15 Bronze Bronze

BWF World Tour (1 title) The BWF World Tour, announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.

Men's singles Year Tournament Level Opponent Score Result 2018 Macau Open Super 300 Zhou Zeqi 21–9, 21–19 Winner

BWF Superseries (1 title, 3 runners-up) The BWF Superseries, launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries has two level such as Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries features twelve tournaments around the world, which introduced since 2011, with successful players invited to the Superseries Finals held at the year end.

Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2008 Malaysia Open Lee Chong Wei 15–21, 21–11, 17–21 Runner-up 2008 Korea Open Lin Dan 4–21, 23–21, 25–23 Winner 2016 French Open Shi Yuqi 16–21, 19–21 Runner-up 2017 Denmark Open Srikanth Kidambi 10–21, 5–21 Runner-up BWF Superseries Finals tournament BWF Superseries Premier tournament BWF Superseries tournament

BWF Grand Prix (18 titles, 11 runners-up) The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) which was held from 2007 to 2017. The World Badminton Grand Prix has been sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation from 1983 to 2006.

Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2001 Japan Open Muhammad Roslin Hashim 11–15, 6–15 Runner-up 2001 U.S. Open Kenneth Jonassen 6–8, 7–2, 7–2, 7–5 Winner 2002 Japan Open Xia Xuanze 5–7, 7–5, 0–7, 7–5, 7–2 Winner 2003 Swiss Open Anders Boesen 15–10, 15–2 Winner 2003 Dutch Open Muhammad Hafiz Hashim 5–15, 15–8, 15–6 Winner 2003 German Open Lin Dan 15–4, 15–4 Winner 2005 Indonesia Open Boonsak Ponsana 15–10, 15–3 Winner 2005 Chinese Taipei Open Shon Seung-mo 15–13, 15–5 Winner 2006 All England Open Lin Dan 7–15, 7–15 Runner-up 2008 German Open Sho Sasaki 22–20, 21–5 Winner 2010 Macau Open Lee Chong Wei No match Runner-up 2011 Swiss Open Park Sung-hwan 21–17, 9–21, 17–21 Runner-up 2011 Thailand Open Chen Long 8–21, 19–21 Runner-up 2011 Macau Open Du Pengyu 17–21, 21–11, 21–18 Winner 2011 Korea Grand Prix Gold Shon Wan-ho 21–18, 21–16 Winner 2012 Swiss Open Chen Jin 21–14, 9–21, 17–21 Runner-up 2013 Korea Grand Prix Gold Hong Ji-hoon 21–18, 21–12 Winner 2014 Canada Open Ng Ka Long 21–16, 21–14 Winner 2014 Korea Grand Prix Lee Dong-keun 18–21, 22–24 Runner-up 2015 Malaysia Masters Jeon Hyeok-jin 19–21, 21–13, 21–15 Winner 2015 New Zealand Open Qiao Bin 21–12, 21–14 Winner 2015 Vietnam Open Tommy Sugiarto 19–21, 19–21 Runner-up 2015 Thailand Open Ihsan Maulana Mustofa 21–17, 22–24, 21–8 Winner 2015 Korea Masters Lee Dong-keun 21–17, 14–21, 14–21 Runner-up 2015 U.S. Grand Prix Rajiv Ouseph 21–19, 21–12 Winner 2016 Thailand Masters Hu Yun 21–18, 21–19 Winner 2016 Canada Open B. Sai Praneeth 12–21, 10–21 Runner-up 2016 U.S. Open Kanta Tsuneyama 24–22, 21–8 Winner 2017 Malaysia Masters Ng Ka Long 21–14, 15–21, 9–10 retired Runner-up BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament BWF & IBF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (5 titles, 3 runners-up) Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2000 Swedish Open Rasmus Wengberg 12–15, 11–15 Runner-up 2000 Waitakere International Rio Suryana 15–8, 15–0 Winner 2005 Thailand Satellite Shon Seung-mo 5–15, 3–15 Runner-up 2014 Sri Lanka International Anand Pawar 17–21, 21–10, 21–15 Winner 2014 Indonesia International Jonatan Christie 11–10, 9–11, 5–11, 11–8, 11–3 Winner 2014 Malaysia International Tan Chun Seang 17–21, 21–16, 21–11 Winner 2015 Thailand International Suppanyu Avihingsanon 21–13, 21–10 Winner 2019 South Australia International Ng Tze Yong 21–23, 1–5 retired Runner-up BWF International Challenge tournament BWF International Series tournament