Dane Stuer-Lauridsen announces retirement

COPENHAGEN (JP): Dane Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen officially announced his retirement on Saturday after losing to second- seeded Sun Jun in Friday's quarterfinals.

The 28-year-old shuttler, who was born on April 29, 1971, said he had two operations in 1998 and dropped his world ranking to 125.

"It was really hard to come back to the top 16 but I proved that if I trained hard enough I could do it. But I'm not satisfied with my results now because due to my injury I can only train once a day, which is not enough for me," he said.

Stuer-Lauridsen, ranked seventh in the world, won the bronze medal in the 1992 Olympic Games. His highest ranking was world No. 4 in 1995.

"I don't want to wait for another year just to qualify for the Olympics. I've been there and I'm satisfied enough," he said.

"This is my last tournament and I want to stop competing in badminton, even for exhibition. It's a very hard decision but I had thought about it in September last year."

Stuer-Lauridsen has competed in five World Championships, and Friday's result was the worst of his career. He reached the semifinals in 1993 and 1995.

"It's really difficult after 10 years of career, but I told myself that if I can't be in the top five then it's not worth it to play," said Stuer-Lauridsen, who joined the same club as world No. 1 Peter Gade Christensen.

Stuer-Lauridsen has not won a tournament since the 1997 Korean Open. His best result this year was reaching the semifinals in the Swiss Open in March.

Stuer-Lauridsen is still deciding what to do with his future.

"Maybe I will play more golf in the next few months," he said with a laugh. "But I still have no idea what to do. Time will tell. I have a few thoughts."

"I don't want to do any coaching. But time will tell. At this time I don't have any intentions to coach," said the former boyfriend of Camilla Martin. (yan)