Denmark har 9 participants in the All England Mens' Singles. None of these made it past the 2nd round. Is this the final sign that the Danes of today just are not good enough to compeed with the Asian players like the Danes have been in the past? Could be, but it must be remembered that both Peter Gade and Kenneth Jonassen had to with-draw with injuries. Still, something could be rotten in Denmark...
Christian, you're Danish, aren't you? Time for self-criticism, eh? With Gade and Jonassen injured, and Anders Boesen obviously not in top shape, any other outcome than this would have been miraculous. It would have been nice if somebody had taken the opportunity to step forward and claim the throne... Camilla and Tine are still in the WS. And think about the doubles! There's still 17 pairs (!) left in the tournament. Let's see how many survive today's round... but I think we should expect to see Danish presence in the MX and finals at least. The MD pairs are hard to assess -- it's their first "real" tournament.
Yes, I'm Danish and my posting is a sign of self-criticism. Other then that, I agree on your evaluation of the chances for the Danish doubles... but it is the singles which worries me.. both mens' and women's singles.. It seems these days that Peter Gade and Camilla Martin are the only ones who can really compete with the best.. and that's way below what used to be the Danish standard.. However.. it is very possible that we will just have to get used to this in future.
Camilla has never had any rivals in her own country, and the only one that could trouble Peter was Poul-Erik, and he's long gone... so it's been like this for years. I think Denmark spent a lot of resources on their top talents, but maybe not enough on developing the ones just below them... There are some promising juniors, however, especially in WS. Who knows what the future will bring? And as said before, doubles are looking bright. There are several younger pairs, especially in MD, who are on their way up. By the way, to my astonishment I just noticed that Jens Eriksen & Martin Lundgaard-Hansen lost to Eng/Limpele! Eng/Limpele is not a bad pair (low in rank, but only because they've been absent for quite some time), but I had expected more of the Danes after their performance in the Danish Championships... But it was very pleasing to see that a pair that hasn't looked quite as strong, namely Jonas Rasmussen & Lars Paaske, won over Lee Dong-Soo & Yoo Yong-Sung from Korea. I didn't think they could win that one, to be honest! Michael Soegaard & Michael Lamp were crushed in 20 minutes by Ha & Kim though... But I must admit I'm very happy to see that one of my favorite pairs (Ha/Kim that is) seem to have made it back! And both Tine and Camilla are through to the third round, so cheer up Christian!
Lundgaard is a bit strange. He does get edgy for such an experienced player. Remember his Q/F performance in the WC 2001? For some reason, I have the impression that Denmark tends to have one 'outstanding' MS player at any one time with the rest being just under the surface but never quite breaking through. So team events are always a close affair. 1996 Thomas cup must have been their best showing.
I am Danish too and Denmark is not that big a country! We have half the population of Sweden - around a fifth of Malaysia, a tenth of Britain and Korea. And I am not even gonna try to calculate the percentage of China and Indonesia! We don't get top players all the time. In single we are lucky to have Gade and Camilla Martin. And it was great when we had 5 top ms reaching the quarterfinals in the world championships - but it is not going to be like that all the time! Some times we are up - sometimes we have a break down. Actually I read an article the other day and was surprised to find out that only 4-5 of the Danes is full-time pros. The rest either have a part-time job or are studying. Jonasen, Gade and Martin are fulltime badminton players. But Boesen - I know he is a medical student – and it is the similar with most of the doubles players. Maybe that's one of the things creating the gap between Gade - C.Martin and the rest of the singles players - the other guys are not fulltime pros!! Does anyone know if the secondary players of China, Indonesia, Korea and so on are full-time badminton players? Jan
INA second line players are full time. None of them who are in the national training squad have other profession except badminton.
I heard that apart from the fulltimers, the only one in the Danish national team who doesn't have (or is studying for) a university degree is Jens Eriksen -- he's a fully qualified car mechanic!
Yes Mag Y are right. Jens Eriksen is a car mechanic. About half the players in the Danish national team only have their high school (or "office" high school) and most others are studying for a university degree. Jesper Larsen is studying Phys.Ed. Jim Laugesen is working big print machines - whatever that is called. Peter Rasmussen does acupuncture. And actually Ann Lou Jorgensen is studying the same place as myself - at the school of pharmacy! Gade did not finish high school - I guess he broke into the pros pretty ealy! To Yudhi: yes - that’s what I thought - where do they get the money. I wish we could have like 50 full time players!! Jan
Wasn't Peter Ramussen a medical student? What happened to his studies? And Boesen, how does he combine a demanding degree with playing badminton?
Peter Rasmussen is still a medical student.. besides the accupuncture.. and how they combine the two.. Well.. I guess the only reply is that it is a lot of hard work..
May, if you have nothing constructive to add, does being rude and acting like an idiot make you feel better?
May.. It's too late for me to personally do something about it as I am in my 30'es.. and a doubles player.. and have a demanding full time profession.. However.. don't think that we here in Denmark intentionally just stand by and watch while other European nations catch up with us.. in mens singles, but also in the other categories.. the Danish team, the Danish coaches, the clubs, the players.. wherever I go there is reflection on the issue of Badminton's future in Denmark.. And this is the reason for my original posting.. The first round of the All England and the faith of the Danish mens singles was in my opinion just one of many recent signs that the former Danish superiority compared to other European countries seems to be a thing of the past.. or at leat on the verge of being a thing of the past.. Another good example could be the Uber Cup Semi-finals, where Denmark almost lost against Germany.. I guess that this for the sport could be a very good thing.. with representatives of more European countries having a realistic possibility of winning tournements.. however.. it saddens me somewhat as I see it as a sign of Danish deterioration compared to other European countries as well as e.g. China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Korea.. a sign that we here in Denmark have not been good enough to use the momentum we have had.. and as for doing something about that.. I'll see what I can do..
Re: Danish break-down or stagnation Are we actually just seeing the other countries closing the gap? If you think Denmark is going down, just look at England's performance. The men are really struggling. The women seem to be improving.
