Lee Hyun II

Jayce September 6, 2024 3 0

Character Introduction

Lee Hyun Il (Korean: 이현일 ; April 17, 1980) is a male badminton player from the Republic of Korea, who plays singles and has been described by fans as “the man with the most perfect footwork” in the world badminton world, and was ranked No. 1 in men’s singles in February 2004. After registering his retirement with the Badminton World Federation (BWF) after the 2012 London Olympics, he made a comeback as a free agent until November 22, 2019, when he officially retired along with former national teammate Cao Jianyu and settled in New Zealand as a coach.

In the same month of 2002, Lee Hyun-il appeared in the Japan Open Badminton Championships, winning the men’s singles title.

In September 2005, Lee participated in the Asian Badminton Championships in Hyderabad, India, and won the third place in the Men’s Singles of the Asian Championships.

In January 2008, he competed in the Korea Badminton Super Series and won his first Super Series men’s singles title in his badminton career, defeating top seed Lin Dan of China 2-1 (4-21, 23-21, 25-23) in the men’s singles final. In February of the same year, he competed in the German Badminton Grand Prix and won his first international Grand Prix men’s singles title, defeating the tournament’s 13th seed, Sho Sasaki of Japan, 2-0 (22-20, 21-5) in the men’s singles final.

In August 2008, he represented South Korea at the Summer Olympics badminton tournament in Beijing, China, where he competed in the men’s singles event, ending his second Olympic tour with a 1-2 (16-21, 21-12, 14-21) defeat to Chen Jin of China in the third-place match.

In November 2011, he competed in the Macau Badminton Golden Grand Prix and won his first international Golden Grand Prix men’s singles title, defeating the tournament’s No. 4 seed, Du Pengyu of China, 2-1 (17-21, 21-11, 21-18) in the men’s singles final.

In July 2012, he represented South Korea in the Olympic Games held in London, England. In his second Olympic bronze medal match, he again faced China’s Chen Long and went through three sets to defeat his opponent 1-2 (12-21, 21-15, 15-21) and hated the bronze medal match for the second consecutive Olympics.

After that, a news from the world of badminton confirmed that “former South Korean star Lee Hyun-il had registered his retirement with the Badminton World Federation on September 10 this year until November 6, 2013, when he registered his comeback.

In September 2014, he helped South Korea win the second place in the men’s team. In July of the same year, he represented South Korea and helped the Korean team win the gold medal in the men’s team at Asia’s highest level.

In September 2015, he played in the Thailand Badminton Golden Grand Prix and won the Golden Grand Prix men’s singles title by defeating Indonesia’s newcomer Ihsan Maulana Mustofa 2-1 (21-17, 22-24, 21-8) in the men’s singles final.

In February 2016, Lee Hyun-Il appeared in the Thailand Badminton Masters and won the Golden Grand Prix Men’s Singles title by defeating the tournament’s No. 3 seed, Hong Kong, China’s Eddie Hu, 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) in the Men’s Singles final.

In October 2016, he played in the French Badminton Superseries successively defeating three of the world’s top ten ranked players, Viktor Assalçon, Zhou Tiansheng, and Wu Jialang, and reached the finals of the Superseries at the age of 36, with a chance to set a new record for the oldest Superseries singles champion (36 years, 6 months, and 15 days old), but ultimately finished as runner-up with a 0-2 (16-21, 19-21) defeat to Shi Yuqi of China.

In January 2017, Lee Hyun-il appeared in the Malaysia Badminton Masters, winning the runner-up spot in the men’s singles final after retiring en route. In October of the same year, he appeared in the Denmark Badminton Premier Superseries and won the runner-up spot in the men’s singles final after losing 0-2 (10-21, 5-21) to the tournament’s eighth seed and India’s Srikanth Kidambi.