Kang Kyung-jin

Kang Kyung-jin (Hangul: 강경진; Hanja: 姜京珍; born 24 March 1973[3]) 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.[4]

Kang Kyung-jin
Personal information
Country	South Korea
Born	24 March 1973
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)[1]
Handedness	Left[2]
Event	Men's & mixed doubles
Medal record Representing  South Korea Men's badminton World Championships 1991 Copenhagen Mixed doubles Sudirman Cup 1991 Copenhagen Mixed team 1993 Birmingham Mixed team 1997 Glasgow Mixed team 1995 Lausanne Mixed team Thomas Cup 1996 Hong Kong Men's team Asian Games 1994 Hiroshima Mixed doubles 1994 Hiroshima Men's team 1998 Bangkok Men's team Asian Championships 1998 Bangkok Men's doubles 1996 Surabaya Men's doubles 1996 Surabaya Mixed doubles Asian Cup 1996 Seoul Mixed doubles East Asian Games 1993 Shanghai Men's doubles
BWF profile

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 wants to be a baseball player, following his father who was also a baseball player.[2]

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.[2] 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.[5] 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 a history in China badminton as the first foreign coach on their team.[6]

Personal life

Kang wife, Park Soo-yun, is also a former badminton player.[7]

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

1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Gang Gyeong-Jin". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
2. "강경진 국가대표 감독과 지도자 선발". www.ibadmintonnews.com (in Korean). 3 January 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
3. "BKA tournament personnel data". Badminton Korea Association. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
4. "Kang Kyung-jin". Olympedia. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
5. Choi, In-young (29 December 2016). "National Badminton Team: New Start with Kang Kyung-jin as Head Coach". Yonhap. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
6. Hearn, Don (2 September 2019). "Historic change for Team China announced in Korean media". www.badzine.net. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
7. "왜 힘들게 국가대표 코치를 하냐구요? 강경진 코치 인터뷰". badmintonkorea.co.kr (in Korean). 27 April 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2020.