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`Believe in your style and master it'
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With world badminton being dominated by Chinese players, legends Morten Frost Hansen and Prakash Padukone take a trip down memory lane to the time when they showed the world how to beat the Chinese
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PHOTO: MURALI KUMAR K.
STARTLINE caption.
"I hate to lose more than most. I have the will to win every time." That is Morten Frost Hansen for you. The Danish badminton legend was in Bangalore recently to conduct a training camp for young hopefuls at the Karnataka Badminton Association.
Along with him was another legend, our own Prakash Padukone. Padukone developed a close relationship with Frost when they trained together at Denmark and have remained mates ever since. Anand Sankar caught up with the duo on the sidelines of the training camp as they wound back the years to the time when China began its rise to become a badminton superpower.
Padukone: In 1976, we had the Asian Championship at Hyderabad.
It was the first time we saw the Chinese. They were still not members of the International Badminton Federation then.
Frost: Yes, they came in only around 1981...
Padukone: Their visit was more to give an idea of what they were doing and their players. Many said the Indonesian Federation held Rudy Hartono back because they didn't want him to play the Chinese.
Frost: Yes, he had an image...
Padukone: He had a tag that he was the best player the world had ever produced. It would have been interesting if he had played the Chinese. I don't think they played even once.
Frost: It made an impact when the Chinese came on the scene in the early eighties.
Padukone: You remember the Santa Clara World Games?
Frost: Oh, yes.
Padukone: That was the first time we played the Chinese. I still remember we played Chen Chang Jee. I lost to him in the semi-final...
Frost: And I lost to him in the final.
Padukone: You lost to him almost in the same score as me.
Frost: Yes, it was close.
Padukone: It was 15-12 in the third set or something. That's when I said the Chinese are beatable and it was news all over the world. People thought I was pulling a fast one.
And in the very next tournament, the English Masters, we beat them. So, it was not empty words, we two showed the way the Chinese could be beaten.
Frost: Back in the 1970s there were teams from China visiting Denmark. All the players lost.
Padukone: Did you watch any of those matches?
Frost: I was a kid then. I actually saw the Danish team play the Chinese team in 1971.
Padukone: Okay...
Frost: I don't know if most people remember Ilo Hansen. He had all the tricks. The crowd went absolutely wild because this Chinese was so quick but he fell for all the trick shots. Hansen was 7-1 up in the first set.
But after that he lost 15-7 and 15-1 because the Chinese had figured out all his shots. (Laughter) Yes, We had a lot of good players at the time but they got annihilated.
Padukone: And when we won against the Chinese, it made the other players confident, including the Malaysians, the Indonesians and the Koreans. Not that we won every time, but a couple of times we were able to beat them.
Frost: I remember in 1980 when I played the Chinese team before they came into the IBF.
I remember Hang Jang, this short guy, coming on to the court with a racket that had strings that looked like they had been repaired.
He had an interesting style of play. I thought there is no way I can lose to this guy. (Laughter) I lost 15-8, 15-8 and Jang later told the media, `I was told Morten Frost is very fast, but I can't really see it.'
Padukone: But the scenario today is not conducive. Especially for the ladies.
If eight Chinese players are allowed to play, I won't be surprised if all eight reach the quarterfinals.
I don't see anyone making a mark - the Japanese, the Koreans or the Danes.
At least with the men, the Chinese don't win all the time.
Their dominance, especially in the ladies singles, is not good for the game.
Frost: You don't want what happened in Madrid.
The Chinese won too much. They have a fantastic team, but in terms of what's good for badminton, we would like more nationalities to win.
It would make it more interesting.
Padukone: To beat them, first you need self-belief and second, don't play the game, which they are playing.
Try something different. Otherwise you have to be faster, fitter and stronger than them, which is not humanly possible.
But because they are winning, everyone is trying to follow their example and blindly do whatever they do. You must analyse your own strengths and weaknesses and believe in your own style, and master them.
Some originality has to be there.
Frost: Yes, we lack originality.
When we played, the toughest player was the Korean, he was like a kamakazie, he would never die on the court.
After that the Indonesians were tough, then the Chinese, the Malaysians and then the Indians.
That was how I saw them in terms of mental toughness.
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