Men's badminton knocks out powerhouse Malaysia...

South Korea's men's badminton team set the tone on the first day of the team competition at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.

The Koreans defeated Malaysia 3-1 in the round of 16 men's team event on Monday at Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province.

The Koreans dropped the doubles event, their flagship event, but rallied to reach the quarterfinals thanks to strong performances from their singles players.

World No. 47 Jeon Hyuk-jin (Yonex) won a close 2-1 (21-14 14-21 21-18) victory over World No. 16 Lee Ji-jia to take control of the match.

With the advantage in their favor, Korea suffered an unexpected defeat in the first doubles match.

The world No. 4 pair of Seo Seung Jae and Kang Min Hyuk (Samsung Life) went down 0-2 (17-21 9-21) to the world No. 5 pair of Aaron Chia and Soo Yin Lee.

However, with the match score at 1-1, Lee Yoon-gyu (Gimcheon City Hall) changed the tone of the court as he swept past Ng Tzu-yong 2-0 (21-11 21-16).

Lee is ranked 119th in the world, 100 places below Nguyen (19th).

In the fourth match of the day, Kim Won-ho (Samsung Life) and Na Sung-seung (Kimcheon City Hall) didn't miss a beat as they defeated Ong Yoo-shin and Teo-ei (World No. 9) 2-0 (21-16 21-18).

Kim Won-ho and Na Sung-seung are ranked just 332nd in the world, having only just started playing doubles together.

Waiting for the Koreans in the quarterfinals after coming from behind is No. 1 seed Indonesia.

The Indonesians have the world's No. 2 singles players in Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and No. 5 Jonatan Christie, as well as the world No. 1 doubles team of Pazar Alfian-Muhammad Ryan Ardianto.

The men's team's performance will be crucial to the national team's goal of winning seven medals at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games. 파워볼