PETALING JAYA: Viktor Axelsen (pic) has sounded the alarm on the possibility of burnout among shuttlers during the hectic Olympic qualification period, which begins next month.
Men’s singles world No. 1 Axelsen, while carefully choosing his words in his recent tweet, mentioned that “it would be interesting” to see how the players and coaches would face the busy schedule ahead.
“Will be interesting to see how we players and coaches/federations will handle the busy tournament schedule coming up. Physically and mentally,” tweeted Axelsen.
“With the Olympic qualification starting, it will be harder for players and coaches to skip tournaments and prioritise as the slight panic of not getting the seeding you are after and /not qualifying will be there from the start of the qualification.
“Easy to miss the big picture. And an interesting challenge.”
Each player or pair would be playing in nothing less than 20 tournaments and maybe more in their bid to qualify for the Paris 2024.
Only 70 singles players (35 each in the men’s and women’s singles) while another 48 pairs (16 each in the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles) qualify for Paris 2024 and the mad rush will start on May 1 until April 28, 2024.
There are bound to be injuries and burnout along the way and coming up with a well planned and effective schedule for a player/pair would be the biggest challenge of a coach.
Most players and pairs will start the Olympic race from zero as even if they are ranked tops in their respective event, continuous failures in tournaments would see their ranking slip and making it difficult for qualification.
Being the most consistent player for more than a year, Axelsen had an uncharacteristic drop in form early this year and could only win one title – the Malaysian Open in January – in four starts this year.
While it was necessary to keep pressing for short term results, players like Axelsen will also be looking at the big picture, which is to finish among the medallists in Paris.
Unlike in previous campaigns, Axelsen only had three years instead of four to rejuvenate and refocus on his title defence as Covid-19 pandemic delayed the Tokyo Olympics by a year and it was only held in 2021.
Since winning the Olympics gold in Tokyo in 2021, Axelsen has won more than 10 titles and is set to keep winning before the 2024 Olympics.
Axelsen’s focus on the ‘big picture’ which is to fight for medals in Paris, is not expected to waver despite the huge task ahead during the qualifying rounds.
