Jesper Hovgaard: ‘We’re Looking at a Group with Potential’
Women’s singles has for long been a tricky category for Denmark. While the country has produced a number of top men’s singles players in every generation, the going has been tougher in women’s singles, with only the…
· DEV SUKUMAR
Women’s singles has for long been a tricky category for Denmark. While the country has produced a number of top men’s singles players in every generation, the going has been tougher in women’s singles, with only the odd player – Lene Koppen, Camilla Martin and Tine Baun the prominent names -- winning major titles. Jesper Hovgaard, Denmark’s assistant national coach in charge of women’s singles since July, talks about Denmark’s young prospects and his approach towards making them contenders at the elite level. Part 1 of a two-part interview:
Going by performances at the Denmark Open, Denmark do seem to have some promising women’s singles players. Is this batch the result of a conscious approach towards building strength in women’s singles, since Denmark have struggled in this area after Tine Baun’s retirement?
Giving a chronology is difficult but of course Badminton Denmark have been trying to get more and more talent through to a high level… investing more resources in getting more women’s singles players. There are different reasons why we have a group of players of high level and of quite young age.