Badminton Europe is delighted to announce the first arrival of 2019 to the Centre of Excellence (COE) which comes in the name of Milan Dratva, from Slovakia.
The 22-year-old has joined the centre ahead of a busy 2019 which will include a cruel and tight scheduled Olympic qualifying campaign for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Dratva joins having lived in Denmark for the past two years, living in Odense prior to his move to the COE.
A good recommendation
Dratva revealed to Badminton Europe that he has heard nothing but positive things about its COE and that he cannot wait to get going.
The 22-year old is pleased about how much of a good impression the centre has given him since he has joined this month.
- I have spoken to some of the players here and I have only heard good recommendations, so I thought about seeing what it was about, Milan Dratva told Badminton Europe.
- I have very good impressions so far from the centre, it is very professional from the coaches to the players it is what I was looking forward to and I am liking it so far.
- It is a part of Badminton Europe which is a good organisation I think for me to develop my badminton, the 22-year-old added.
- I know a lot of players from the centre from previous tournaments and training camps, so I think that I can fit in well.
Where is the focus?
Dratva’s main aim during his time at the COE is to try and qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and he is looking forward to the qualifying campaign which he expects to be tough.
- My main focus is on improving, I don’t want to rush anything at the moment, so I will see how it goes, he commented.
- I would like to get to the Olympics if I can get through that period of qualifying. It will be a lot of travelling but the important thing is to plan well ahead because I am expecting it to be very busy, Dratva said.
- It will be a new experience for me and one that I am up for. I want to focus on training, so it is not all about crazy travelling.
- It is good that there are quite a few players at the centre now because not everyone is travelling at the same time so mostly there will always be someone to practice with, he added.