Norway was an exciting tournament. I had had some good time to train, was feeling fitter and faster than I have. I arrived in Norway the afternoon before I played and took a train to the city of the event where I went directly to the hall. Unfortunately they booked 8 people per court in half hour blocks. This meant I got very little time on the main courts. 

Tournament day arrived and I got ready to play. Didn’t feel top notch but felt focused and relaxed. I got on court against the 9/16 seed from Denmark, Mads Juel Møller, feeling confident I could play well. The first set went by with a poor scoreline. I wasn’t aggressive enough – the rallies were ok, but I never put enough pressure into the match. Karl Kurt, a player from Estonia came on court at the change of ends and challenged me to be more aggressive and move up in the court a lot more due to the very fast and oddly tumbling Forza shuttles. The second set was much better. I was able to control the match a lot more, and the game was tied up at 17-17. I missed a crucial net kill and lost a lot of confidence mentally and lost the next point as well. The match ended 21-18. Overall felt I played a good match, especially the second set. Mads is a strong player and able to control the court well. I was happy to play aggressively and move well. However I felt I needed a bit more edge at the end of the match – I didn’t stick to the game plan and ended up defending too much in the last 4 points. 

A lot of small things to work on, but also a lot of improvements. This is the slow, sometimes bitter journey of improvement. 

You can watch the match below. If you like my videos don’t forget to subscribe to my Youtube!

If you want to support me here is the link to my gofundme