Jakarta: Despite undergoing brain surgery to threat a life threatening illness 3 months ago, Carsten Mogensen has made a comeback many deemed impossible.
In his men’s doubles opener against the World No. 10 Chinese pair Li Junhui / Liu Yuchen on Wednesday, Carsten Mogensen and his partner Mathias Boe roared past the Chinese pair 21-16, 22-20 in 38 minutes to reach the Indonesia Open second round.
“We just played our best in the match. Carsten’s recovery process has been outstanding. He is a mentally tough player. To be able to play at Indonesia Open really meant a lot to us. It’s even more extraordinary that we were able to finish the game with a victory,” said Boe.
Boe also said the Chinese pair was playing with a very fast pace game, there were especially fast at the net.
“It’s definitely not easy to play against opponents that have good defence and have a lot of net shots. We were grateful that Badminton Association of Denmark (BAD) didn’t give us too much pressure, but we will strive to become one of the best men’s doubles pair in the world again,” added Boe.
Mogensen and Boe will play Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda of Japan on Thursday. If they can beat the Japanese pair, they will face either compatriots Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding or No. 2 seeds Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia in the quarter-finals.
BAD will decide whether to send Carsten Mogensen/Mathias Boe or Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding to the Rio Olympics in mid-June. Therefore, a good showing in Indonesia Open would be critical determinant on BAD’s decision making process.
