As the 2013 BWF World Championships closes in to just two weeks to go, we zoom in on one of Europe's best bet in the men's singles discipline - Jan Ø. Jørgensen - who will be playing in his third World Championships this summer since making his debut in 2009 as a 21-year-old youngster.
After being forced to sit out of the last edition in 2011 due to an injury and later in the same year battling a heart condition that had threatened to end his badminton career prematurely, the 25-year-old Danish star has responded with a series of remarkable results at the BWF World Superseries.
Since the 2012 Olympic Games concluded, Jørgensen has registered 4 semi-finals appearances on the World Superseries tour in the last 12 months leading up to qualifying for the World Championships in Guangzhou - a testament of his capability to steal an elusive men's singles medal for Europe.
Denmark remains the European country with a convincing history of medaling at the men's singles discipline. In fact, Danish household names like Peter Gade, Morten Frost and current BWF President, Poul-Erik Høyer, have all medaled at the World Championships more than once.
While Jørgensen digs deep for his first, in a 6-part finale series on Smashing Stars, we take you deeper into the character he is off-court. Stay tuned as the unapologetically enigmatic Dane shows us his hipster pad, plays a "taste" quiz and answers questions from fans over Twitter and Facebook.
We also have a signed shirt of Jørgensen to be won at the end of the series - you won't want to miss out on that!
Smashing Stars #16 - Jan Ø. Jørgensen shows us his hipster pad
Smashing Stars #17 - A man of good taste
Smashing Stars #18 - Jan Ø. Jørgensen Q&A Part I
Smashing Stars #19 - Jan Ø. Jørgensen Q&A Part II
Article by Jan Lin. Photo by BadmintonPhoto.