Shuttlecock Love, from Beijing to Seoul

Watching him from distance, her heart begins to pound. She knows they are not meant to be, but she can’t help it. Gao Ring, a 23-year-old Chinese women’s badminton player, just can’t hide her feelings towards Lee Dong-su, a 28-year-old player from the South Korean men’s team.

Gao Ring, who won the gold medal in a pair match during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, now ranks the second in the women’s pair. She first met Lee, who ranks the third in the men’s pair, back in March 1999 during the British Open held in England. He just looked like a good person at first. As she got to know him better through international matches, however, her feelings toward him grew strong.

When Gao meets Lee, she sometimes gives him little presents like a key ring. Lee, for his part, has been always kind and nice to her. He sees her as a junior player he must lead, Lee’s colleagues say. In fact, Lee has been seeing someone for more than a year, a flight attendant he met last summer. Gao knows about it, too. It’s just she can’t help her feelings.

This is the fourth time the two meet each other this year – there were Indonesia Open, Korea Open and British Open before the Asian Games. Every time they meet, they talk to each other using some Korean and Chinese words.

Gao is often seen watching Lee during practice. The two won the gold medal this time. Gao congratulated on Lee when he beat an Indonesian team in the final on Oct. 9. “To me, she is like a little sister,” said Lee. “I often feel sorry for her knowing what she thinks of me.”

Players from different countries grow closer as they often encounter on the international level. In particular, table tennis and badminton players from Korea and China often become close friends going through many international matches. Then, friendship develops into love in some cases.

Former table tennis stars Anh Jae-hyung and Jao Zemin got married. Kim Hak-kyun (now head coach of national badminton team) and Ye Zaoing, however, didn’t have their wish fulfilled. For Gao, she must know the heartbreaking of unrequited love.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com