Mark Caljouw: Making Rapid Strides
At the YONEX All England last month, a 26-year-old Dutchman strode in for his first HSBC BWF World Tour Super 1000 semifinal.
· DEV SUKUMAR
Many fans might still be unfamiliar with Mark Caljouw, but the Dutch player has made steady progress over the last couple of seasons and the All England provided the opportunity for the breakthrough. Caljouw took his chances, beating Khosit Phetpradab, Nhat Nguyen and Lakshya Sen before going down to eventual titlist Lee Zii Jia.
“This was a huge experience, for sure,” said Caljouw. “I didn’t expect that I would come into the semifinals, so I was enjoying the match and playing at the All England on Saturday is just amazing. I can see that if I want to win against those guys, I have to improve in a lot of aspects.
“I’ve played them before, but every time I play them, you can see that if you don’t play the right way, they punish you right away. That’s something I have to learn. But for sure, this is a confidence boost.”