Copenhagen: It’s hard to hold back Mathias Boe when it comes to badminton.
After witnessing a near death experience through his men’s doubles partner Carsten Mogensen, who had brain surgery to treat the rupture of an aortic aneurysm in his brain last week, Mathias Boe who originally hoping for a strong showing in the 2016 Rio Olympics with Carsten Mogensen, was abruptly forced to reset his career goals after that unfortunate incident.
Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark are currently ranked World No. 3 in men’s doubles, and they have won countless titles together, including the silver medal at the 2012 Olympics, 2011 and 2015 champions of the prestigious All England badminton tournament.
Although it’s too early to say whether Carsten Mogensen can ever return to competitive badminton, Mathias Boe reiterated that those things were no longer important to him anymore.
“Right now, the most important for Carsten is that he can live a normal and healthy life,” said Mathias Boe in an interview with Danish media.
Mathias Boe has been by Carsten Mogensen’s side since the incident took place last Thursday until he returned to Denmark on Tuesday. Although he is confident that Carsten Mogensen will make a full recovery, but he is uncertain about their partnership, and has begun to think about his future career.
“Although I am 35 years old, I am still as energetic as a Puma. I’m determined to keep playing, and I still have 1 year left before my contract expires with YONEX.”
“If YONEX wants to extend my contract, I can easily see myself playing for a long time.”
“I will continue to play badminton, whether it is with Carsten, I hope, of course. It’s still too early to even speculate anything. We have started looking for new direction for my career, I may play few tournaments with a new partner, whoever he may be.”
Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen’s main goal this year was obviously the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Due to the Olympic qualification period will end on May 1, 2016, Mathias Boe’s only chance to be able to participate in the Olympics would be if Mogensen is ready to play again in early August.
“If I am going to play in the Olympics, I’ll be playing with Carsten, given he is in good enough shape and we have a chance to win a medal.”
“I only go to Rio if there is a realistic chance of winning a medal. Otherwise, I would rather pay for own flights to relax and to lie on the sand on Copacabana beach in Rio De Janeiro,” said Mathias Boe.
