Copenhagen: Denmark’s 2017 World Champion Viktor Axelsen who was interviewed by India’s Wion media and talked about his Instagram live session with Lee Chong Wei in March, Axelsen said it was a fun experience and he has a lot of respect for Lee.
“Yes, it was fun to do an Instagram with Lee Chong Wei. It was a dream come true to interact with a legend like him on social media. I think every young badminton player looked up to him, no one can deny his greatness. He was extremely consistent over many years and won a number of top titles. He is a great role model for players like me because of the way he played the game,” Axelsen told Wion.
Here is the Instagram Live between Lee and Axelsen:
The Dane also believed that current World No. 1 Kento Momota is the most talented and complete player in the badminton world right now.
“He is a very strong player and very hard to beat. To a certain extent, having an opponent like him actually gave me a lot of motivation to train harder every day,” said Axelsen.
“I am hoping I can continue to improve my games and we could play against each other in many high-quality matches in the future. I’ll work as hard as possible so that I can win our next match-up,” added Axelsen.
Talking about one of the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) guidelines to play matches behind closed doors without the audience, Axelsen said it’s actually better than not playing at all.
“Playing without fans would make the tournament feel like a practice, it’s going to be disappointing playing without spectators but it’s better than not playing at all,” explained Axelsen.
