I'm not pessimistic but realistic: Hansen<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Morten Frost Hansen, the four-time All England champion from
\nDenmark, still looked dangerous on court in his practice game
\nagainst South African first singles Chris Dednam at the Bung
\nKarno Indoor Stadium last week.<\/p>\n
The 46-year-old man, now living and coaching badminton in
\nSouth Africa, put in a very tough fight against Dednam, who
\nwasn't able to score a point.<\/p>\n
Once in a while, Hansen shouted out directions to Dednam on
\nhow to play against him.<\/p>\n
Hansen showed he was one of the world's badminton stars. His
\nwork on shots at times drew applause from the crowd that had
\ncasually assembled.<\/p>\n
Peter Gade Christensen, his successor as the Danish no.1
\nshuttler, reportedly comes to him for tips and advice. They are
\noften seated together at matches.<\/p>\n
When asked why he ended up coaching in South Africa, he said
\nit was a \"long story\". It began when he visited South Africa for
\nbusiness in 2000.<\/p>\n
\"The national badminton association contacted me to offer me
\nthe job and I was happy to take it,\" said Frost Hansen, who
\ncoached the Malaysian team between 1997 and 1999.<\/p>\n
He would not dream of coaching Denmark -- at least not in the
\nnear future -- saying that such a request from the Danish
\nnational team would be impossible to fulfill.<\/p>\n
Thus, for the moment, he would stay in South Africa.<\/p>\n
South Africa is a newcomer to the badminton world and the
\nDanish man is ambitious that he can improve the country's
\nbadminton in the future.<\/p>\n
Frost Hansen is bringing a total of ten young players, ranging
\nfrom 17 years of age to 21 years, to the ongoing Thomas Cup and
\nUber Cup Championships in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The men's team is in Group C, along with Malaysia and
\nThailand, while the women's team is in Group X with Chinese
\nTaipei and Germany. Both teams were defeated 5-0 in every game
\nthey played.<\/p>\n
The team has set no targets, knowing that their capabilities
\nare not up to the standards of other participants, including the
\nDanish shuttlers.<\/p>\n
\"By far, we are the weakest country participating in these
\nchampionships. I don't expect too much from the team,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"I am not pessimistic, I am just realistic. There is a reason
\nwhy we're seeded twelfth among twelve teams,\" he smiled.<\/p>\n
\"We'll learn a lot from our participation in this competition.
\nIt's something that we can bring home with us, and it will help
\nus improve our team,\" Morten said.<\/p>\n
He added that it would take several more years for the South
\nAfrican team to become like Indonesia or Denmark, because not
\nmany people were interested in the sport.<\/p>\n
\"Badminton is only a small sport in South Africa. There are
\nonly around 10,000 people interested in badminton there compared
\nto the country's population of 45 million,\" he said.<\/p>\n
South Africa, along with other newcomers, such as Canada,
\nAustralia and New Zealand benefited from the International
\nBadminton Federation (IBF)'s new rules of qualification, whereby
\nrepresentation from the five continents has been pursued.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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