Hans-Kristian Vittinghus

Hi all,

A bit more than a week ago I was part of the danish mens team that retained its European Championship title in Warsaw, Poland. It was no surprise really that we won as the Danish men have never lost in this competition. Still being crowned European Champion is a big thing and I'm very happy to have been part of the team twice now (I was also on the team when we won the latest edition in 2008).

This time around we had a fantastic atmosphere on our team, I really enjoyed being in Poland with the guys. Even though I didn't get to play in the semifinal and final I still had a great time being around and cheering for my teammates.

(picture by badmintonphoto.com)

Winning this championship also means we are now qualified for the Thomas Cup finals in Kuala Lumpur in May. There may be some changes to the team when we get to that, but I have high hopes that I will be on the team again. It's one of my biggest goals of the year, so I really hope to perform well over the next couple of months to prove that I should be on the team.

Busy schedule

The next three weeks will be very busy with tournaments for me. I will travel to Germany tomorrow afternoon to participate in Yonex German Open. Next week will take me to Birmingham for the 100th Yonex All England Open and the week after that I'm taking part in Swiss Open.

Playing tournaments three weeks may sound like a tough programme, but with the number of matches I usually get in the Super Series it may not be too bad Joking aside I hope to perform well in all three tournaments, starting with German Open this week. It's a Grand Prix rated tournament, but the entry is pretty strong with Bao Chunlai and Chen Long leading the force.

I will play a qualifier in my first match, so I'm hoping to get a good start there. Some good players in qualifying though, so I have to be careful.

To see the full draw click here.

New facebook fansite

A few days ago I published my new facebook fansite. Facebook is a very easy way for me to interact, not only with friends and family, but with fans as well. I will keep my facebook site update on a daily basis when I'm at tournaments. Of course I will also update my website on a regular basis, but it will probably wont be every day.

My facebook site will be used for shorter and informative updates, while I intend to still use this website for more detailed updates.

I hope you will all visit my new fansite and become a fan

You can find it here. (You don't have to have a profile on facebook to read the updates, it's visible to anyone!)

That's it for now, thanks for reading!

HK

Hi all,

Since my last update I've been busy with a lot of stuff. First and foremost busy with training. Ever since the start of december training at the national centre has been very hard physically. We are all trying to build a good physical condition now, so that we can focus more on speed and matchplay when we get closer to All England. We will start focussing more on that when we get back from the European Men's Team Championships which is being held in Warsaw next week. This championships also works as the Thomas Cup qualifiers, so it is a big priority for us. I'm on the team as the fourth mens singles, so I will be seing lots of action in the group stage and probably not so much in the knock-out stages. It will be a good experience no matter what as I always enjoy travelling with the team as it is a bunch of great guys! I will also be able to maintain a high level of training in Warsaw, so I'm really looking forward to the trip.

Last week I played in the Danish Nationals. I was seeded 4 for this event and managed to live up to that seeding. I played a good tournament winning my matches en route to the semifinal in a convincing matter, beating Kasper Ipsen in the quarterfinal. In the semifinal I played Jan Ø. Jørgensen whom I managed to take to three sets and give a good fight in the third. It's been a while since I played this well against him, so I'm satisfied with my performance. It was a good week for me as I consolidated my position as Danish no. 4 mens single.

Last night I then had a chance of following up my good form from the nationals as we had a league match against league leaders Greve. I played the last match of the night against Kenneth Jonassen and was really looking forward to play him again as we usually have some good fights. It was not to be the case yesterday as I really couldn't find any rythm in my game no matter how hard I tried. First set was a disaster and even if the second set was a lot better, I never managed to get my game going and lost tamely 21-7 21-17. We lost the tie 4-2 and Greve have now secured their spot as number one in these playoffs. There will be a final later on this season and hopefully we will get the chance of a revenge at that point.

One more thing has taken a bit of my time over the last week or so. I've been looking into the possibility of studying while still playing badminton at the highest level. I haven't been studying at all since the summer of 2005, so I feel like it's about time to start thinking about that part of my life as well. What the outcome of this will be is too early to say, but hopefully I will start some sort of education in august this year.

That's it for now, thanks for reading

HK

Hi all,

A few things for me to update you about.

First of all I've finally taken the time to update the video section of my site. It has been requested numerous times by different of my readers, so I'm pleased to finally be able to grant your wish.

I've chosen to upload my match against Chen Long from China. I played him in Macau Open last year in one of my best wins of the year, so I hope you will all enjoy the show

Secondly I want to inform you that today I've been selected to represent Denmark at the upcoming European Mens Team Championship, which also works as the Thomas Cup qualifiers. It is of course a great pleasure and honor to get the chance to represent my country in an official team event like this. The last time I did that is almost two years ago when I was a part of the team that won the championship we are now trying to defend! I think I deserve to be on the team and I'm therefore not surprised to be on it, but still very happy about it as it obviously wasn't my decision to make. It shows me that the coaches/federation still believes in me and that's always nice to get confirmed even if I didn't doubt it!

Last thing I want to tell you a little about is the teammatch I played for my club on wednesday night. We played Værløse away from home and beat them 4-2. A very satisfying result for us as Joachim Fischer unfortunately had to withdraw from the match. We are now directly qualified for the semifinals and therefore only one step away from the final, which is what this is all about. We still have two matches left before the semifinal, one of them being a clash with league no. 1 Greve. It will be a good test to see how close we are to them as they most likely will be our opponent in the final, should we make it that far.

I played Emil Vind in the teammatch against Værløse and beat him in three sets, as usual I might say... I've played him I don't know how many times, but many. Still I have never lost to him, but I've played three sets with him quite a few times. This time I was in full control of the third set, so I never felt the victory was in danger and I'm content with my performance. Wasn't the best game of my life, but it was good enough and sometimes that's all you can expect really.

That's it for now, hope you will have a look at the videos.

All the best,

HK

Unfortunately no good news today! I lost to Petr Koukal in 3 sets this morning, 21-8 15-21 21-19.

It was not a good match for me, starting it off in the worst possibly way. For some reason I felt clueless on what to do as nothing seemed to work for me on court even if I felt well prepared for this match. It was easy for Petr to take control of the game and when he wasn't in control I committed simple mistakes. Not a set that is worth rememberring for me in any way...

The second set gave me a fresh new positive start as I quickly got into a 5-0 lead. But today just a single bad shot was enough to make me doubt myself. I never got that comfortable feeling on court that is there when I play my best badminton. Of course it was also partly due to Petr's performance today as he played a very clever and well executed gameplan. I have never seen him play this good from the front of the court, so I also have to acknowledge his performance! I still managed to win the second and take the match to a decider.

But the deciding set was all Petr's as I was never in the lead. He got a bit tense and perhaps a bit nervous in the end letting me back into the game with a GIGANTIC chance to level the scores at 19 all.... but I missed an easy kill at the net to hand him two matchpoints. He won it on the second one when my flick serve got a bit too flat so he could smash it down.

This is a very disappointing tournament for me. I feel like it was mine to win, but I wasn't even close. It also means that I now almost certainly will have to play qualifiers at All England. I had hoped to avoid that, but now there is no way out of it. I will just have to earn my spot in the main draw the hard way

As disappointing as this is there is still lots of other tournaments to look forward to. As soon as wednesday I have a league match and my national championships are on in just 10 days. I will try my best to avenge myself at these events and show that I'm still going strong into this season!

All the best,

HK

Hi all,

Good news from Stockholm, the beautiful capitol of Sweden. I'm here for Swedish International 2010 and the first day of playing has been a great pleasure for me as I came through both of my matches without dropping a set.

First up was Harry Wright from England, a player I've played before and whose style I feel suits my game pretty well. I was in control from the very beginning and never really let him into the match winning in less than half an hour, 21-7 21-13. It was a good match to start off with for me and I felt very confident going into my second round match against Lester Oey from the Netherlands.

(photo by Mark Phelan, badmintonphoto.com)

I can't remember the last time I played Lester but I think it was some time in my years as a junior. He has improved a lot and matured in his game, which he proved by beating Scott Evans in the first round of this tournament. So I knew I shouldn't underestimate him, but I also knew that if I could play at my usual standard I would win the match.

First set was tight in the beginning but once I got a small gap he got a bit impatient and that handed me an easy opening set in the end. The second set proved to be a much different story as I got a bit to passive in my play, letting him control the match with his soft touch at the net and skillful strokes from the back. He got up to a big lead and 5 setpoints at 20-15, but then I managed to up the pace a bit and forced him to commit one mistake after the other. I finally caught him at 20-20 and thankfully I kept on going and took the last two points to wrap it up in two sets 21-14 22-20.

Tomorrow I have to play Petr Koukal from Czech Republic. A good player with a dangerous attack, so I have to be cautious not to give away too many opportunities. I have to be the one deciding the pace of the game and push him around the court. I usually do well against him, but he is always a tough opponent.

I'm really looking forward to play again tomorrow. It's great to be back in competition and tomorrow will be a great test of my game and character!

Hoping to bring you more exciting news tomorrow so stay tuned

/HK

Aarhus Elite - TSS

As I told you in my latest update I had another league match on thursday. Once again the team made a splendid performance and won 5-1 in a very tough away fixture against Aarhus Elite. Unfortunately the one match we lost was my singles...

I played Anand Pawar, an Indian same age as me. Played him a few times before and beaten him every time, but in close matches. This time it was the other way around as he won a really close match 21-17 in the decider. I think I was a bit unlucky to lose the first set, but I just have to admit that I made too many unforced errors and didn't take my chances. Anand on the other hand, did exactly that. He took his chances when he got them and that makes him a deserved winner of the match.

We got the three points we came for and that's more important than personal succes in this matter, so I'm not going to let this loss affect me in a bad way.

Greve Grand Prix

The proof of what I just stated above about not letting it affect me in a bad way came as quickly as this weekend...

I took part in a danish elite tournament, called Greve Grand Prix. We only have two of these every year, so they are always pretty strong, this one was no exception as only Gade, Jan Ø. Jørgensen and Joachim Persson was absent from the mens singles. A few foreigners made the entry even stronger, so it was about the level of a weaker Int. Challenge tournament. Not bad for a domestic tournament I would say!

Ok ok maybe I'm trying to make it sound stronger than it was, just because I won it! But I did beat some quality players in Kasper Ipsen and Peter Mikkelsen to get the title. The win against Peter came a bit easier than expected as he unfortunately had to pull out with an injury after the first set.

Even though I won in singles I will still remember this tournament for something completely different!

For the first time in a very long time I played mens double... My very good friend Scott Evans had asked me if I wanted to play with him, just for the fun of it. And fun it turned out to be!

We didn't really expect anything but having fun, but somehow we managed to beat Mikkel Delbo and Jacob Chemnitz who have made some very decent results on the EBU-circuit, winning a few challenges and was ranked inside top 30 in the world at one point.

(Scott and myself pictured with the president of Badminton Leinster (I think!) back at a exhibition about a year ago)

We ended up losing in three sets in the semifinal to Christian Skovgaard and Mikkel Elbjørn who are two of the guys the danish federation is counting on. So I think we can be happy with our performance considering we are both single players... And even more importantly we had so much fun playing. I really enjoyed it so much, even if it was tough playing 8 matches over 2 days!

That's it for now, I need to get some rest

HK

The year started off great for me and my teammates in the danish league. We beat Vendsyssel 5-1 which is normally not easy to do, but yesterday was rather easy for us nonetheless.

We got off to a flying start with a good win for Gade and an easy one for our mixed doubles Robertson/Kellogg. And after a total of just 70 minutes of play we were in the lead 4-0 after two quite surprisingly easy and onesided womens matches (one singles, one doubles). With that lead we were already secured the three points at stake, so the last two matches was without any real significance.

My singles was one of the last two matches, but I still wanted to win even if the overall match had already been decided. I played a guy called Kristian Midtgaard whom I also played in our latest league match on the 14th of december. Back then I played one of my worst matches all year (still won 21-19 in the decider), so I had a lot to revenge since that was my latest competitive match.

But It didn't really go much better for me in the first set this time. I made lots of easy mistakes and felt like I couldn't move very well. Lost it without much fight 21-13. After a couple of rallies in the second I started to get a much better feeling overall and felt confident that I could win this one even if some parts of my game didn't work well. From that point on I was in full control for the rest of the match winning 21-12 21-10.

I'm not satisfied with my game, but I'm very satisfied with how easily I managed to win the last two sets on a day where not much felt right. Now I'm off and 2010 is going to be a great year

In the last match of the night we lost the mens doubles, but that was no surprise at all as both Mathias Boe and Joakim Fischer had to pull out due to illness and injury respectively. They were replaced by Rasmus Mangor and our coach Kasper Fangel. They did what they could, but of course had no chance against class opposition in Robert Blair/Simon Mollyhus.

We have another league match on thursday away against Aarhus. They have a strong team and are currently third in the league where as we are second. I will play Anand Pawar, who I usually have good close battles against.

The full line-up can be seen here.

All the best,

HK

Dear all,

2009 is now behind us and it’s time not only to look back, but also to have a look at what’s going on in 2010.

First of all I want to thank all of my readers on this site for showing interest in me throughout the year. There have been visitors from all over the world. From New Zealand over Asia and Europe to Canada and South Africa, even some from South America as well. Most of my readers are obviously Danish, but Indonesia is also well represented.

I know I haven’t always updated as regularly as I said I would/wanted to and that I still owe you guys some more video. But I am trying my best to keep you up-to-date with what’s going on in my life as an athlete. Will strive to make it even better this year, but that’s all I’m going to promise.

2009 round-up

I started the year ranked as 43 in the world with 25992 points and I finished it as no.35 with 28580 points. Even though it is in fact improvement, I have to say it’s a little disappointing. In the five-year plan I made with my coach in the beginning of 2008 I had set a goal of being inside top 25 of the world by the end of 2009, but that’s about 6000 points away.

I also had a goal of winning a Grand Prix event or making it to a semifinal of a Grand Prix Gold. Didn’t succeed in that either, I came closest when I lost in the semifinal of Bitburger Open in October which was a Grand Prix.

One goal I did achieve was making it past the first round of a Super Series, which I managed to do in Paris for French Open. But I must say losing in qualifiers on two occasions and crashing out first round on another two, despite having fairly good draws disappoints me. 

It’s not all bad though as I’ve also had some successes on the EBU-tour. I’ve won the last two EBU-tournaments I’ve taken part in – Spanish Open in May and Norwegian International in November. Both of them were good wins and I’m pleased with that.

All of the above is very focused on results, which obviously is what sport is all about. Every single athlete trains and competes to win titles, medals and prestige. It’s no different for me than it is for Lin Dan, Roger Federer, Lionel Messi or any other professional sportsman. All that put aside I still have to say I think 2009 has been a decent year for me. I feel like I’ve improved my game quite a bit and matured in the way I play.

That being said I’ve still had some nasty disappointments over the year. Losing first round in the qualifiers of All England being the worst of them all. Failing to really get a breakthrough in my two trips to Asia, despite feeling more than ready for it, is another. There have been others as well, but these are the ones that come to mind first. But what’s mostly important about these disappointments is I think I’ve learned a lot from them. They have helped me grow mentally stronger and wiser. I think the last three months of 2009 proves that and I hope to bring it with me into 2010.

It may all sound a bit negative and I know it’s important to be the exact opposite. Therefore I also focus on some of the good memories like my two wins on the EBU-tour, beating Chen Long in Macau Open and my match against Lin Dan. Not that I was close of beating him, but I just enjoyed so much being on court that day.

Still I have to admit the bad memories are, unfortunately, greater than the good ones for 2009 when it comes to results in badminton. Off court 2009 has been a fantastic year; I’ve had so many good times with my friends and family both at tournaments and at home.

2009 was also the year where I raised my level on bad days significantly. I’m not losing as many matches to lower ranked players as I used to, which of course is very satisfying. And as I said I think the fact that I learned  from the disappointments over the year is very important. I feel like a much improved player and I feel better prepared for the coming year than everbefore!

So what will 2010 bring for me?

Well first of all I hope it will bring me to the Thomas Cup finals in Malaysia in May. That’s my biggest goal of the year. As it looks right now I’m on track for achieving just that and I will keep working hard to maintain that position. Of course I don’t know for sure (only the coaches do), but I think I’m the fourth choice in men’s singles as it is right now.

Secondly I want to qualify for the European Championships in Manchester in April. And when I do (not if I do) I want to show that I can compete for the medals. I don’t want to just be participating; I want to bring something to the championship.

In the five-year plan I told you about in the beginning of this blog-entry (not sure if there is still anyone reading at this stage!?) I have a goal of breaking into top 15 of the world rankings by the end of 2010. Right now that looks far away,but I honestly believe that it is still achievable for me. It will be very hard, but it’s a challenge and I love challenges when it comes to badminton, so why not go for it?

I have many other goals for 2010, too many to mention here. But most importantly I justhope this year will bring me happier times on court than last year did. I want to be able to enjoy myself more on court, which I think I know how to do. Off court I can just hope for the same amount of fun as what last year brought tome. Wanting more than that is just being greedy

Once again thanks for reading, I wish you all a very happy 2010!

Hans-Kristian

As you may have figured by reading the headline I won the final of Norwegian International today!

Those of you who read my update yesterday will know I was up against Marc Zwiebler, Germanys top shuttler and ranked 22 in the world. Finalist in Denmark Open 3 weeks ago, so he is a class player.

Going into the match I felt confident about winning, since I did beat him 5 weeks ago, but I also knew it would be hard work. And it surely proved to be. After a very even start Marc pulled away after the interval in the first set and got a 5 point-gap at 16-11. He managed to keep that gap going for the rest of the set and closed it at 21-15.

In the second set I tried to be more agressive at the net, dictating the game a bit more not letting him push me around the court. It worked right from the beginning and I got a good lead. But he fought his way back into the set and levelled the score at 15 all. I still managed to keep calm and stick to my tactic which paid off as I won the set 21-18.

The third set started out great for me, I was still the player in control pushing him around and being very patient waiting for the right chance to attack. I quickly got up 4-1 and looked to be in full control as he also began to look really tired. But somehow he got back into his rythm and I got a little carried away trying to force to many of my shots, resulting in a bunch of errors. So from being 4-1 up I was down 11-5 at the interval! He also got the first point after the break so I was in deep trouble at 12-5. But I found back to the right tactics, played some clever points and fought hard to get back into the match. When I played him 5 weeks ago I was also down 14-5 in the third, so I knew it was still possible to come back and win.

Still Marc also played well and he kept me at distance until I finally got all square at 18 all. He took the next point, but then handed me a nice early christmas gift as he made his only service mistake of the game to make it 19 all. The last two points I don't really remember, I just know he hit a lift out on the final point and I could fall to my knees in pure joy and satisfaction of winning another title.

I also won this tournament in 2006 which was my first international win and last year I made a semi final here. So I obviously feel comfortable playing in Norway! This year was no exception as I played well in 4 of my 5 matches (first round wasn't good). I hope to come back next year to defend my title, but we will see many things can happen in one year.

By the way winning the final today makes it 5 of 5 for me in international finals. Great to know I can count on performing well when I make it so far !

/HK

Another great day for me here in Oslo as I've now made it into the final of Norwegian International.

In the first match of the day I was up against Magnus Sahlberg from Sweden. I got off to a perfect start in both sets, leading 8-0 in the first and 10-0 in the second. Obviously couldn't be better and I would classify the rest of the match as just average, which was all that was needed. I dont think Magnus ever found his rythm and his best game, so I felt in control all the way and ended up winning 21-15 21-15.

In the semifinal my opponent was Estonian no. 1 Raul Must. I played him about a month ago at Bitburger Open where I won easily with 9 and 11. Today was a lot harder, but I was still in full control of the match leading all the way through, winning 21-16 21-18. I was even up 15-6 at one point in the second set, so I shouldn't have let it be so close in the end.

Anyway I'm very satisfied with my performance today. Of course I hope to keep it going for tomorrow where it will also be needed as I'm up against class opposition in Marc Zwiebler from Germany.

He was in the final of Denmark Open Super Series a couple of weeks ago, so he is clearly a man in form at the moment. But I'm still sure I can win if I make my game work as I want to. I played him about one month ago where I won 24-22 in the decisive set. I don't hope it will be as close tomorrow, but if it has to I will be ready for it.

Time to sleep now...

/Hans-Kristian