We know the sport needs more players from non-asian countries[europe,americas,australia,africa].Why not name some upcoming non-asian players whom u feel have the potential to be in the top 15-20.[or non-asian players who have been playing for a while and are not in the top 15-20,but can reach there] I am not sure whom to name,...Camilla sorenson maybe[Den]
Richard Eidestedt and Tim Foo are both 17 years old, but are already beating some of the better senior pairs here. If they get proper coaching and gain more experience, Sweden will have a very competitive MD pair in, say, 3-5 years.
France France has Mathieu Lo Ying Ping and Brice Leverdez, MD bronze medallists in junior european championships this year. The first one is a particularly gifted player. I know England has Rajiv Ouseph who seems very promising, and also Michelle Cheung though she is still rather young...
Rajiv Ouseph is most definitely one to watch for the future. He recently became European junior mens singles champion in style, winning his semi final 15-0 15-4 and the final 15-0 15-5 in 20 mins!!! At the English nationals he beat Andrew Smith, currently ranked 21st in the world. At a recent European event he lost 15-14 in the first game to Bjoern Joppien. Given a few years I belive Raj will be the top singles player in Europe, and competing with the best that the Asian countries have to offer. He is currently training full time at the national badminton centre and next year will be going to loughborough university.
I played at the same international youth events as rajiv did some years ago and i must admit that he suddenly grew from a average player into becoming a promising single player for England. I think he plays kinda like Pullela Gopichand, soft strokes, good netplay and a very good technique. He's not that fast but tactic wise so I would rate him as an upcoming world class player if he continues his development. Jan O Jorgensen 18 and Hans Kristian Vittinghus 19 is upcoming players from Denmark. Hans lost to the 3 seeded korean at the WC for juniors in rubber sets with something like 14-17 the decider. Jan has beated some of the best malaysian youngers so they have shown that they are promising players, perhaps a new Gade... In the women event it lies on Camilla Sorensens shoulders in my opinion.. i dont see a Camilla Martin at the moment and for the next 5-10 years. Lene Koppens daughter is a good mix and double player so perhaps she will be there in 5 years.
Not to sure about scott evans, he lost in the first round of the european juniors 8 and 10 to the 9/16 seed.
Dieter Domke, runner up at european juniors, from germany is a good prospect, he is under 19 next year so got to the european final a year young. michelle cheung is a good prospect and raj is definately a good prospect. rob adcock and jenny walwork from england are probs our new mixed pair and the pair that beat them-rasmus bonde and his partner in mixed and doubles.
are there any badminton leagues in europe countries??? like table tennis, sometimes that will attract a lot of oversea players... i think that could help improving the countries badminton standard.
I must admit I don't know much about club league in Belgium. Quite a few international players from Belgium play in the french league... There is also a club league in Spain, but it is not as important as the national individual circuit.
