In two weeks the TOTAL BWF Badminton World Championships 2019 will take place in Switzerland and Denmark have \u201conly\u201d Top 8-seeded players in two categories: Anders Antonsen in men\u2019s singles and Kim Astrup and Anders Sk\u00e5rup in men\u2019s doubles \u2013 the lowest number of seedings since the first BWF Badminton World Championships were held in 1977. One of the main reasons for the lack of seedings is that Denmark\u2019s absolute largest medal candidate \u2013 Viktor Axelsen \u2013 in men\u2019s singles has announced a cancellation due to a back injury. The lack of seedings does not mean that Denmark cannot get players or couples other than Antonsen and Sk\u00e5rup\/Astrup through to the quarter finals, but it looks like a very difficult task in advance. The absence of Axelsen means that, in my opinion, the 22-year-old Antonsen must be attributed to the greatest Danish medal chances. Indeed, Antonsen has shown several times in recent months that he can defeat the very best single players in the world. The good performances have also brought Antonsen, who was developed in Aarhus Badminton Club, to rank 9\u2019th in the world. On the other hand, it will by no means be a surprise if Denmark returns from the TOTAL BWF World Championship 2019 without medals, which has only happened 3 times earlier \u2013 in 1989 (Jakarta), 2007 (Kuala Lumpur) and 2018 (Nanjing) \u2013 out of the 24 BWF Badminton World Championships, which have been held so far.<\/p>\n
\n
Proud international traditions \u2013 but great challenges in women\u2019s and mixed doubles<\/strong><\/p>\nFor decades, Denmark has been Europe\u2019s supremely best nation and among the world\u2019s 4-5 best nations in a sport dominated by nations in Asia: China, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Korea, India, Thailand and Malaysia. Denmark is still Europe\u2019s best nation, but nations such as Japan, China and Indonesia now have far more Top-10 players\/couples than Denmark. Likewise, nations such as Taiwan and India have more and better rankings than Denmark on the world rankings (1). One of the main reasons why the distance between the top three nations and Denmark has increased significantly is that Danish players\/couples have previously belonged to the world\u2019s Top-10 players in at least 4 of the 5 categories: Men\u2019s singles, women\u2019s singles, men\u2019s doubles, ladies\u2019 doubles and mix double. At present, however, there are no Danish Top-10 players\/couples in either women\u2019s singles, women\u2019s doubles or mix doubles. It has been particularly painful that the two best women\u2019s and mix doubles players over the past decade: Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl have stopped their international careers. I do not currently see players in women\u2019s doubles or mix doubles, which may come close to Pedersen and Rytter Juhl level over the next 4-5 years. The fact is that the best Danish couple in women\u2019s doubles \u2013 Sara Thygesen & Majken Fruergaard \u2013 are currently ranked No. 25 on the World Rankings, while there is no Danish couple among the 40 best on the World Ranking in mix double. Due to the lack of international level in women\u2019s doubles and mix doubles, it will also be completely unrealistic with Danish medals in international team championships such as the Surdirman Cup (Mixed national team) and the Uber Cup (Women\u2019s national team) in the near future. On the other hand, the Danish men\u2019s national team has really good chances of achieving a top result when the World Championship for Men\u2019s team (Thomas Cup) is played in Aarhus in May 2020.<\/p>\n
Viktor Axelsen and Anders Antonsen \u2013 Two world-class players<\/strong><\/p>\nWhile the lack of international qualities in women doubles and mix doubles are particularly obvious, there is much greater optimism in men\u2019s singles and men\u2019s doubles. Denmark\u2019s largest medal candidate for the 2020 Olympic Games is 25-year-old Viktor Axelsen (No. 6 on the World Rankings), who has already won the World Championship (2017) and Olympic bronze medal (2016) as well as a number of Super Series victories. However, it is very worrying that in recent years Viktor has been forced to pause several international tournaments due to various injuries. And now a discus collapse in his back has also forced him to a World Championship cancellation. Injuries have also been Jan \u00d8. J\u00f8rgensen\u2019s challenge for a number of years. Fortunately, Jan is on his way back with a semifinal result at the Japan Open. The performance shown that he still has the potential for top international results. It can certainly not be ruled out that Jan \u00d8 returns to the Top-10 on the World rankings, if health allows continuity of training and tournaments.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s doubles at the \u201cheavy\u201d end of the age scale<\/strong><\/p>\nThe best Danish men\u2019s doubles \u2013 Kim Astrup & Anders Sk\u00e5rup (No. 8 on the World Rankings) \u2013 have also shown high international level in recent seasons and the couple can on \u201ca good day\u201d win over the best couples in the world. But from opinion the couple must perform with a higher \u201cbottom level\u201d, especially against opponents who are ranked lower than the talented pair. I am very pleased that 39-year-old Mathias Boe and 31-year-old Mads Conrad have come together in a new constellation, as are 36-year-old Carsten \u201cNuller\u201d Mogensen and 31-year-old Mads Kolding. Unfortunately, Mads Kolding is beaten with a long-term injury, but both couples have the potential to challenge the world\u2019s best pair in men\u2019s doubles: Gideon and Sukamuljo, Setiawan and Ahsan from Indonesia and Li and Liu from China. Especially, I look forward to following Boe and Conrad, who are both \u201cfighters of God\u2019s grace,\u201d in the coming months, focusing on their earning of points for the Olympic qualification. I think Denmark can qualify for two men\u2019s doubles for the 2020 Olympic Games, but it will be very difficult especially for the two couples to interfere in the fight for Olympic medals due to the lack of seedings.<\/p>\n
International potential at Blichfeldt and Kj\u00e6rsfeldt \u2013 but perhaps greatest in doubles<\/strong><\/p>\nLikewise, I believe that Denmark\u2019s two best women\u2019s singles: Line Kj\u00e6rsfeldt (No. 17 on the World Rankings) and Mia Blichfeldt (No. 12 on the World Rankings) qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games, but in both players are without medal chances. Neither 25-year-old Kj\u00e6rsfeldt and 21-year-old Blichfeldt have yet succeeded in achieving international top results and the road to emerge among the best players in the world is still long. I also believe that their international potentials are greater as doubles players than as singles players. However, it is a crucial condition that the individual player is motivated for a career as a double player. Both Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen chose \u2013 consciously and advisedly by sports manager and coaches \u2013 to bet unilaterally on a career as doubles players. This choice resulted in impressive international results for more than a decade. Kj\u00e6rsfeldt and Blichfeldt have the opportunity to follow the same road, which I think will be a wise choice.<\/p>\n
More girls must be recruited in the clubs and developed to international level by Badminton Denmark<\/strong><\/p>\nDanish badminton\u2019s biggest challenge, in my opinion, is the lack of recruitment and development of doubles players, especially among the girls. It is a fact that today there are more than 2,000 girls under the age of 18 who are members of one of Badminton Denmark\u2019s 650 clubs than 10 years ago. Similarly, the number of boys under 18, who are club players, has decreased by more than 2,000 in the same period, ie. a decline of young badminton players in Denmark under the age of 18 by more than 10 percent. In addition, the number of boys under the age of 18 \u2013 22,500 \u2013 is significantly higher than the number of girls \u2013 11,800 \u2013 in the Danish badminton clubs. The skewed gender distribution in the clubs also means that coaches, managers and parents often have \u2013 consciously or unconsciously \u2013 a much greater focus on the boys\u2019 wishes and needs than the girls. Badminton Denmark with High Performance Manager Jens Meibom and his coaching staff should therefore, as soon as possible, in close cooperation with the strongest local training environments motivate and prioritize the most talented talent coaches \u2013 both professional and human \u2013 to train and develop the girls, if necessary \u201cat the expense\u201d of the boys. If Denmark is to challenge the very best nations again and maintain the position as Europe\u2019s strongest badminton, it is essential that the federation and the clubs develop some specific targets, strategies and efforts to recruit and not least develop girls\u2019 interest and motivation for badminton. Otherwise, Denmark will lose further international terrain in one of the most traditional and medal-winning sports \u2013 unfortunately.<\/p>\n
Note:<\/p>\n
(1) If the nations are ranked by Top-10 rankings and placement points (10 points to No. 1, 9 points to No. 2, 8 points to No. 3 \u2026 and 1 points to No. 10) on the World Ranking is status before the 2019 World Cup the following: 1. Japan: 10 Top-10 Rankings and 78 Placement Points, No. 2 China: 10 Top-10 Rankings and 69 Placement Points, No. 3 Indonesia: 8 Top-10 Rankings and 46 Placement Points, No. 4 Korea: 4 Top-10 Rankings and 15 Placement Points, No. 5 Taiwan: 3 Top-10 Rankings and 19 Placement Points, No. 6 India: 4 Top-10 Rankings and 12 Placement Points,\u00a0No. 7 Denmark: 3 Top-10 Rankings and 10 Placement Points<\/strong>, No. 8 Thailand: 2 Top-10 Rankings and 12 Ranking Points, No. 9 Malaysia: 1 Top-10 Rankings and 6 Ranking Points, No. 10 Great Britain: 1 Top-10 Ranking and 3 Ranking Points.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In two weeks the TOTAL BWF Badminton World Championships 2019 will take place in Switzerland and Denmark have \u201conly\u201d Top 8-seeded players in two categories: Anders Antonsen in men\u2019s singles and Kim Astrup and Anders Sk\u00e5rup in men\u2019s doubles \u2013 the lowest number of seedings since the first BWF Badminton World Championships were held in … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGenerational change in Danish badminton requires targeted efforts in relation to the recruitment and development of female players · MA57 Consulting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Generational change in Danish badminton requires targeted efforts in relation to the recruitment and development of female players · MA57 Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In two weeks the TOTAL BWF Badminton World Championships 2019 will take place in Switzerland and Denmark have \u201conly\u201d Top 8-seeded players in two categories: Anders Antonsen in men\u2019s singles and Kim Astrup and Anders Sk\u00e5rup in men\u2019s doubles \u2013 the lowest number of seedings since the first BWF Badminton World Championships were held in ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MA57 Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-06T08:03:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-16T08:04:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"micand57@gmail.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"micand57@gmail.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"micand57@gmail.com\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/38422011d47f9227ca8f55f8d73e87e6\"},\"headline\":\"Generational change in Danish badminton requires targeted efforts in relation to the recruitment and development of female players\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-06T08:03:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-16T08:04:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/\"},\"wordCount\":1546,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/\",\"name\":\"Generational change in Danish badminton requires targeted efforts in relation to the recruitment and development of female players · MA57 Consulting\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-06T08:03:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-16T08:04:07+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Hjem\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Generational change in Danish badminton requires targeted efforts in relation to the recruitment and development of female players\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/\",\"name\":\"MA57 Consulting\",\"description\":\"Livet er ikke en sportsgren for tilskuere\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"MA57 Consulting\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/logo.png\",\"width\":122,\"height\":44,\"caption\":\"MA57 Consulting\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/38422011d47f9227ca8f55f8d73e87e6\",\"name\":\"micand57@gmail.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/author\/micand57gmail-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Generational change in Danish badminton requires targeted efforts in relation to the recruitment and development of female players · MA57 Consulting","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Generational change in Danish badminton requires targeted efforts in relation to the recruitment and development of female players · MA57 Consulting","og_description":"In two weeks the TOTAL BWF Badminton World Championships 2019 will take place in Switzerland and Denmark have \u201conly\u201d Top 8-seeded players in two categories: Anders Antonsen in men\u2019s singles and Kim Astrup and Anders Sk\u00e5rup in men\u2019s doubles \u2013 the lowest number of seedings since the first BWF Badminton World Championships were held in ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/","og_site_name":"MA57 Consulting","article_published_time":"2019-08-06T08:03:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-16T08:04:07+00:00","author":"micand57@gmail.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"micand57@gmail.com","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/"},"author":{"name":"micand57@gmail.com","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/38422011d47f9227ca8f55f8d73e87e6"},"headline":"Generational change in Danish badminton requires targeted efforts in relation to the recruitment and development of female players","datePublished":"2019-08-06T08:03:23+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-16T08:04:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/"},"wordCount":1546,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/","url":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/","name":"Generational change in Danish badminton requires targeted efforts in relation to the recruitment and development of female players · MA57 Consulting","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-08-06T08:03:23+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-16T08:04:07+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/generational-change-in-danish-badminton-requires-targeted-efforts-in-relation-to-the-recruitment-and-development-of-female-players\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Hjem","item":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Generational change in Danish badminton requires targeted efforts in relation to the recruitment and development of female players"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/","name":"MA57 Consulting","description":"Livet er ikke en sportsgren for tilskuere","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#organization","name":"MA57 Consulting","url":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/logo.png","width":122,"height":44,"caption":"MA57 Consulting"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/38422011d47f9227ca8f55f8d73e87e6","name":"micand57@gmail.com","url":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/author\/micand57gmail-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4253"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4254,"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4253\/revisions\/4254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}