I'm not pessimistic but realistic: Hansen

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.