Potent pair: South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk (left) and Seo Seung-jae won the world title last year.
PETALING JAYA: South Korea’s new men doubles pairs Seo Seung-jae-Kim Won-ho and Kang Min-hyuk-Jin Yong are set to pose a fresh threat to the home shuttlers in the Malaysian Open from Jan 7-12 in Bukit Jalil.
This is after the Korean Badminton Association decided to continue keeping opponents guessing by experimenting with their pairs.
Seung-jae-Min-hyuk, who captured the world title together last year, were split up after the China Open in September when the latter enlisted for the military service.
Despite their achievements together including also winning the World Tour Finals crown last year, the pair have not been reunited in any of the tournaments in January.
Instead, Seung-jae and Min-hyuk will continue playing with Won-ho and Jin Yong respectively in the Indian Open from Jan 14-19.
In the Indonesian Masters (Jan 21-26) and Thailand Masters (Jan 28-Feb 2), the pairs will be switched up with Seung-jae combining with Jin Yong while Won-ho will be paired with Min-hyuk.
The 21-year-old Jin Yong impressed when he captured the China Masters title with Seung-jae last month.
Jin Yong also showed off his versatility by finishing runners-up in the Korean Masters with Won-ho and in the Malaysian Masters with Na Sung-seung.
The youngster has proven to be a thorn in the flesh for national No. 1 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik.
Jin Yong stunned Aaron-Wooi Yik in the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Masters with Sung-seung and gave them a tough time before losing in three games along with Won-ho in the final of the Korean tourney.
Seung-jae-Won-ho also have the potential to cause problems for Aaron-Wooi Yik and the other home pairs in the Malaysian tourney.
The duo have played together before in 2019 where they finished second to Taiwan’s two-time Olympic champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin in the Spain Masters.
Meanwhile, the other Malaysians competing in the home Open are Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, Mohd Haikal Nazri-Choong Hon Jian, Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi and Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub.
The draw for the tournament will be released tomorrow.
