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