Viktor Axelsen's Move To The UAE Is Followed By Other World Badminton Players

Viktor Axelsen with Loh Kean Yew, moved to Dubai, UAE. (photo: instagram)

JAKARTA - Viktor Axelsen's decision to move to Dubai, United Arab Emirates was soon followed by other world badminton players. Men's singles from Singapore, Loh Kean Yew also followed in the footsteps of the Danish badminton player to train in Dubai this week.

Axelsen, the gold medalist of the 2020 Olympics, was delighted to welcome several players who wanted to join him in Dubai. They even immediately showed off togetherness with other world badminton players in Dubai.

Axelsen immediately uploaded their training and togetherness moments to his personal Instagram account.

"Let's carry on! Positive vibes only as we head into training next week. Surrounded by good people and more great players coming soon. We can all learn from each other," he said on his Instagram account.

In fact, he also stated that there will be more world-class badminton players who will come to the middle eastern country. He looked very happy with the badminton players who came to follow in his footsteps.

Not only Loh Kean Yew, but badminton players Marcus Viscovich and Axel Park Hoi also appeared in one of their photo frames.

The emergence of many badminton players in Dubai is indeed a surprise. Even more surprising than when Axelsen made the decision to leave the Danish badminton national team.

Axelsen himself stated that there were several reasons he moved to Dubai. First, he considers his career path in this sport which is still relatively long, 7 to 10 years away.

He also said he wanted to take a shorter trip if he competed in the Asian championship. Asian badminton tournaments are indeed more popular than Europe, except for All England

If you are in Europe, then this 27-year-old athlete takes hours just to travel to an Asian country. When domiciled in Dubai, then he will cut his travel hours to be shorter.

This allows him to use the remaining time to rest or warm-up. "Dubai gave me less travel time and better recovery when I played in Asia," Axelsen wrote on his Facebook page.

The second is the health factor which is the reason. Axelsen also considered health factors in his decision. He suffers from asthma and acute rhinitis. In Asia, this makes it more comfortable than in Europe, especially Denmark, which tends to be cooler.

He even claimed to have lost about 15 to 20 percent of his lung capacity from the disease. Rhinitis is an inflammatory disease that occurs in the nasal cavity due to an allergic reaction. This allergy can be triggered by various things, such as flower pollen, dust, or animal dander.

"My asthma and hay fever (rhinitis) caused my lung capacity to decrease by 15 to 20 percent when summer hit Denmark. For years, I've been looking for a solution to this problem," he said.

The last reason is the family factor. Axelsen wants to have more time with his family.

This happened because the travel time became shorter if he competed in Asia.

"The shorter the travel time, the more time I can spend with Natalia (his wife) and Vega (his son)," he said.

The move of badminton players to a new country is not new. Mia Audina, an Olympic silver medalist, moved from Indonesia to the Netherlands. The hero of the 1996 Indonesian Uber Cup even presented a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics for his new country.

Next is Tony Gunawan, an Indonesian men's doubles badminton player who moved to the United States. The two-time world champion also presented the world title for his new country.