Kang Kyung-jin (; born 24 March 1973) is a former badminton player and coach from South Korea. He was the men's doubles champion at the 1997 All England Open and 1998 Asian Championships. He competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Early life The left-handler Kang Kyung-jin, began to play badminton when he was in the third grade of Dongdaegu Elementary School, recognized by his teacher who is also a badminton coach in a club. In the beginning, he wanted to be a baseball player, following his father, who was also a baseball player.
Career As a player, Kang was best known for winning the 1997 All England Open men's doubles title with Ha Tae-kwon. In the same year, Kang and Ha also won major titles at the Swedish Open and the Korea Open and the following year, they won the Badminton Asia Championships. In the 1994 Asian Games, he won two silver medals, in mixed doubles and in the men's team event.
Coach Kang graduated from Inha University, and after that he started his career as a coach in Gangnam-gu office team. He later was selected to join the national team as men's doubles coach in 2003, and took part at the Summer Olympics from 2004–2016, with his best achievements was managed to lead Ha Tae-kwon and Kim Dong-moon to win a gold medal in 2004. He spent one year as the head coach of the national junior team, and then Kang was named as the head coach of the senior national team in December 2016, with his term to run from 1 January 2017 to 30 October 2018. Following the Korean team's disappointing results at the 2018 Asian Games, Kang with some of Korean coaching staff were fired by the Badminton Korea Association (BKA). In September 2019, he was hired to join Chinese national team coaching staff, and made history in China badminton as the first foreign coach on their team.
Personal life Kang's wife, Park Soo-yun, is also a former badminton player.
Achievements
World Championships Mixed doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 1991 Brøndby Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark Shim Eun-jung Thomas Lund Pernille Dupont 7–15, 17–15, 7–15 Bronze
Asian Games Mixed doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 1994 Tsuru Memorial Gymnasium, Hiroshima, Japan Jang Hye-ock Yoo Yong-sung Chung So-young 10–15, 12–15 Silver
Asian Championships Men's doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 1996 Pancasila Hall, Surabaya, Indonesia Ha Tae-kwon Ade Sutrisna Candra Wijaya 8–15, 17–15, 11–15 Silver 1998 Nimibutr Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand Ha Tae-kwon Zhang Jun Zhang Wei 12–15, 15–11, 15–13 Gold
Mixed doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 1996 Pancasila Hall, Surabaya, Indonesia Kim Mee-hyang Tri Kusharjanto Lili Tampi 1–15, 6–15 Silver
Asian Cup Mixed doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 1996 Olympic Gymnasium No. 2, Seoul, South Korea Kim Mee-hyang Park Joo-bong Ra Kyung-min 6–15, 8–15 Silver
East Asian Games Men's doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 1993 Shanghai, China Kim Chul-joong Huang Zhanzhong Liu Di 5–15, 15–6, 7–15 Bronze
IBF World Grand Prix The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) since 1983.
Men's doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 1995 Swedish Open Kim Dong-moon Peter Axelsson Pär-Gunnar Jönsson 5–15, 9–15 Runner-up 1995 Canadian Open Ha Tae-kwon Kim Dong-moon Yoo Yong-sung 12–15, 15–6, 15–8 Winner 1995 Hong Kong Open Ha Tae-kwon Rudy Gunawan Bambang Suprianto 17–15, 12–15, 15–3 Winner 1996 Thailand Open Ha Tae-kwon Sigit Budiarto Candra Wijaya 11–15, 15–10, 12–15 Runner-up 1997 Korea Open Ha Tae-kwon Cheah Soon Kit Yap Kim Hock 4–15, 15–3, 15–5 Winner 1997 Swedish Open Ha Tae-kwon Peter Axelsson Pär-Gunnar Jönsson 15–3, 15–11 Winner 1997 All England Open Ha Tae-kwon Jon Holst-Christensen Michael Søgaard 15–11, 17–16 Winner 2001 U.S. Open Park Young-duk Yousuke Nakanishi Shinya Ohtsuka 7–0, 7–3, 7–3 Winner
Mixed doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 1995 Canadian Open Kim Mee-hyang Kim Dong-moon Gil Young-ah 7–15, 8–15 Runner-up
IBF International Men's doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2005 Canadian International Han Sung-wook Jung Sung-gyun Park Young-sang 15–12, 15–13 Winner
Men's doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2005 Canadian International Ha Jung-eun Han Sung-wook Joo Hyun-hee 15–12, 15–13 Winner
References