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bout 30 visitors at the 2011 Djarum Indonesia Open Superseries Premier badminton tournament attended a special meet-and-greet the players event at the Jakarta Super Series badminton tournament in Senayan, South Jakarta, on Friday afternoon.

The visitors ranged from cheerful teenage school girls to fashionable young men.

The outdoor-session began after about a 10-minute wait. The young girls in attendance made sure they had a strategic position among the crowd to take pictures of the players.

Sporting a casual T-shirt, short pants and flip-flops, Lee emerged from the players’ entrance all smiles and waving to his gleeful fans. He greeted his fans for about 20 minutes.

Lee, who had earlier said he could not speak English well, but could understand the language, used
body language to communicate with his fans.

Although accompanied by South Korean shuttler Ko Sung-hyun, Lee was still the main attraction at the meet-and-greet.

“Hi, all. I’m Lee Yong-dae from South Korea,” Lee said through a translator.

The 22 year old said that he was happy to have returned to Indonesia on his fifth visit.

“It is fun to meet the fans, but I don’t really like to be pushed over or touched,” he said.

The organizers seemed to understand that most of the girls were hell bent on having their picture taken with their idol, and two MCs asked three trivial questions in order to allow the fans to come near Lee and have their unforgettable photo session.

One of the lucky fans, Nadia Khanza, finally got her chance to stand just centimeters away with Lee.

Nadia was seen jumping and squeaking in excitement after the session.

“I am so, very happy to finally have a picture with him [Lee]!” the 10th grader at senior high school SMA 28 in Jakarta told The Jakarta Post with great enthusiasm.

“I’ve been a fan of Yong-dae since 2008. My fondness for him is not just due to his physical appearance but also his fast play,” said Nadia, adding that she had taken pictures of Lee last year, but only from afar.

She said that she would watch the final of the Open despite that Lee and his doubles partner Jung Jae-sung had lost to Indonesians Angga Pratama and Ryan Agung Saputra on Thursday.

Besides Lee, the organizers also introduced Indonesian mixed doubles team Fran Kurniawan and retired Indonesian badminton player Ricky Subagja to the crowd at the event.