Lee Yong-dae and Lee Hyo-jung from South Korea advanced into the mixed doubles final at Beijing Olympics on Saturday, beating No.3 seeds Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa from Indonesia 21-9, 12-21, 21-17.
Lee Yong-dae, a 19-year-old badminton doubles genius, failed to exhibit his talents at the debut of his first Olympic Games, in which he and his partner Chung Jae-sung lost to Danish veterans Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen in the first round of men's doubles due to his inexperience and nervousness.
In mixed doubles, Lee Yong-dae and Lee Hyo-jung marched into the semifinals by beating a pair from New Zealand and British veterans Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms consecutively.
Their opponents showed admiration to the South Korean pair's consistency and stamina after the match.
"They were more aggressive and weren't tired at all," said Limpele, while Marissa said that "towards the end, we were tired and couldn't play our best."
Lee Yong-dae attributed the success in mixed doubles to low expectation.
"I was putting a lot of expectations on the men's doubles, but unfortunately we didn't get through. Whereas I didn't put any pressure on myself in the mixed doubles, so I felt good in the match," he said.
On the opponents in the final, top seeds Liliyana Natsir and Nova Widianto from Indonesia, Lee said they have beaten them several times before.
"We will still give our all and do our best for the gold medal match," said the rising star.
(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2008)