For many years, Denmark has remained essentially the most profitable European nation in badminton and can thus be one of many largest challengers to the Asian powerhouses on the Tokyo Olympics.
The Nordic nation could have fairly a number of gamers who can stake a declare for the gold medal in Tokyo – Viktor Axelsen, Anders Antonsen, and Mia Blichfeldt.
They’re the most recent stars from a rustic that has churned out champions for years by way of its efficient membership system.
The rationale behind Denmark’s success in badminton
Because the 1950s, Denmark has invested in setting up indoor sports activities services in almost each municipality throughout the nation, which is a serious purpose behind the success of Danish badminton. Presently over 600 golf equipment are represented by Badminton Denmark, which supervises day-to-day affairs by way of an meeting the place every member membership is represented.
Over time, this technique has been instrumental in producing legends and pushing Danish badminton to the heights of excellence.
Former World No. 1s Morten Frost and Lene Koppen impressed a whole era to embrace the game again in 1970s-80s. Peter Gade adopted of their footsteps, mesmerizing every one along with his on-court wizardry.
Historical past of Danish badminton in Olympics
With badminton consolidating its place on the mega quadrennial occasion in 1992, lots of Denmark’s legends did not have the fortune to style glory on the Olympics.
Even then, the Scandinavian nation ranks fourth amongst all nations with its meager haul of eight medals from the Olympics.
Denmark’s first Olympic medal got here within the very first version by which badminton was included. Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen, a bronze medalist in males’s singles on the Barcelona Video games, etched his identify within the report books because the nation’s first-ever Olympic medalist in badminton.
The present president of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen then made historical past in 1996 as the primary Danish shuttler to win Olympic gold. Until date, he stays the one badminton participant from Denmark to have collected the yellow metallic.
It was primarily within the final couple of editions of the Olympics that Denmark had a flurry of medals from the big-ticket occasion.
Viktor Axelsen added the Rio males’s singles bronze to his glittering assortment of medals. Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen capped their lengthy males’s doubles careers with a silver medal from the London Olympics.
Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl’s heroics had been rewarded with a ladies’s doubles silver at Rio, 4 years after Pedersen received the blended doubles bronze with Joachim Fischer Nielsen.
Whereas many of those stars have retired, Denmark stays very a lot a pressure to reckon with on the BWF circuit.
This is a have a look at the Danish shuttlers who could make the nation proud on the Tokyo Olympics:
Males’s singles contenders on the Tokyo Olympics:
#1 Viktor Axelsen
Viktor Axelsen has been the torch-bearer for Danish males’s singles badminton for the previous few years. His towering 6’4” body helps in producing power-packed smashes, making him a deal with to look at each time he steps on the courtroom.
Axelsen burst onto the scene when he turned the first-ever European to be topped the junior males’s singles world champion in 2010. Since then, the Dane has made speedy strides on the tour, including a number of the largest titles to his illustrious resume, along with ascending to the top of the world rankings.
The 27-year-old has tasted glory on the World Championships in addition to the All England Open – two of badminton’s most prestigious tournaments. He was additionally a part of Denmark’s historic Thomas Cup-winning squad in 2016. That very same 12 months, Axelsen additionally received a prized Olympic bronze medal on the Rio Video games.
Axelsen has began the 2021 season in stellar type and is trying each bit the contender for the gold medal on the Tokyo Olympics. He has reached the finals of all 5 tournaments he has performed, successful in 3.
With the poise and starvation he has proven already, it will not be a shock to see Axelsen lastly take the Olympic gold that he missed at Rio 5 years in the past.
#2 Anders Antonsen
Former European junior champion Anders Antonsen has blossomed into one of many prime males’s singles shuttlers right this moment. Endowed with an aggressive recreation and velocity, Antonsen got here into the highlight after successful a silver medal on the 2017 European Championships.
However it was in 2019 that the 23-year-old got here into his personal. Having received the Indonesia Masters and the European Video games titles, he made it to the World Championships last, the place he needed to accept silver.
Antonsen returned in 2020 to complete because the runner-up on the Indonesia Masters earlier than occurring to win the Denmark Open and the BWF World Tour Finals titles.
His current exploits have catapulted the 2021 England Open semi-finalist to No. Three on the Race to Tokyo rankings.
Antonsen is at present the No. 1 Dane in males’s singles, forward of Viktor Axelsen. He will certainly look to hold the momentum into the Tokyo Olympics and bag a medal.
Ladies’s singles contender on the Tokyo Olympics:
Mia Blichfeldt
Very similar to Anders Antonsen, 23-year-old Mia Blichfeldt too first got here into the limelight with the women’ singles title on the European Junior Championships in 2015.
Her rise has, nonetheless, been sluggish since. It was lastly in 2019 that she began asserting herself on the tour by successful the Spain Masters and the European Video games.
Mia Blichfeldt has been a pressure to reckon with this 12 months as she goals to make Denmark proud on the Olympics. She made the semi-finals on the Yonex Thailand Open and the Swiss Open earlier than reaching the quarter-finals on the All England Open.
By dint of her very good early-season performances, the World No. 18 is at present in 14th place within the Race to Tokyo rankings. A top-16 place would assure her a direct entry into the Tokyo Olympics and a better draw. Blichfeldt appears comfortably positioned for the time being to meet her dream of representing her nation on the Olympic Video games.