The reigning European Champion has big ambitions going to Tokyo.
Anders Antonsen has won back-to-back European titles winning the European Games 2019 and the 2021 European Championships. The Dane reached the World Championships final in 2019 and with this resume and the recent results at the back of his mind, he is going to Tokyo with only one single goal:
- The big goal is definitely to win the gold medal. That has been a dream of mine since I started playing badminton, so the dream goal is the gold medal.
- I do not tell myself that I am satisfied with bronze or silver. I aim for the big one, and I know it is a tall order and a difficult thing to achieve, but that is what I am aiming for, Antonsen stated.
The winning cliché
Antonsen finished the qualification race to Tokyo as number three overall, and there is no doubt that the 24-year-old Danish men’s singles star has the skills to reach the top. Most badminton fans know the story about how Antonsen announced himself as “The Next One” after his Scottish Open victory in 2016, and five years later, the ambitions have not changed.
- It is difficult to satisfy myself when I have these ambitions, but I also feel it would be weird for me to say that I am happy with reaching quarterfinals or semifinals, because of course I want to be the best and to win.
- It is almost a cliché for me to say that I want to win it all, but it is a better cliché than saying that I am “taking one match at the time” and stuff like that even though it is also very true.
Hard work
The Danish team going to the Olympics will be including European stars such as Antonsen, Viktor Axelsen, Mia Blichfeldt and Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, and Antonsen is confident that the preparations have been good.
- I am in quite good shape. It has been going well the whole year, but of course the last five-six weeks have been tough.
- Everything is a part of a bigger plan and when we get closer to the Olympics, I will get more and more fresh in my body and start to feel all the hard work I have been putting in.