Jan Louda caused quite the stir at the Sudirman Cup when he gave Czech Republic a 1-0 lead against perennial team Championship powerhouse Korea, on Sunday. The 25-year-old saw his team go down 4-1 to the former champions, but he had nicked a point after beating Cho Geonyop 21-16, 21-16.
While doubles is Korea’s strongest suit always, new coach Park Joo Bong might’ve taken Czechia a tad lightly fielding Cho, ranked 142 against Jan, ranked 103. Jan has a career high of 39. Usually it’s the little known Koreans who suddenly spurt up at team events and cause a stir. This time they were on the receiving end.
Jan has previous wins against Weng Hong Yang of China and Ng Yong Tze of Malaysia as he became a part of the first cohort of 4 Czech players to qualify for Paris Olympics. The east European nation has little history in the sport, and Jan took to badminton following his father and elder brother into the sport.
He was mesmerised by the sport watching Lin Dan win the 2008 Olympics. “I remember the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. I was watching Czech players like Petr Koukal and Kristina Gavnholt; I remember sitting in front of the TV and supporting them,” he had told BWF last year. “I also did other sports like swimming and skiing, but badminton was always No.1 in our family,” he added.
The badminton hall was 15 minutes by bus, and Jan’s first memory of badminton was playing with his father. “I used to go with him on the bus to the hall,” he told BWF.
“Four years ago when I started to become a better player and started to be more competitive at the international level, I was beating players who had participated in the Olympics, so I felt I can be the same. If I can beat them, I can also be there.”
The hyper bouncy player known to ambush unsuspecting opponents with his energy, has had to pay for that hoppity style with injuries. “I face injuries, so that was the hardest part, but I’m glad I could get through. I had an infection in my Achilles last summer (2023), it took two months and I couldn’t prepare well for the World Championships. But that’s part of sport, so I tried to be positive. It was after some good tournaments I had, so I felt OK, I could afford these two months and come back and I didn’t feel it would affect qualification,” he told BWF after making the Paris cut.
Story continues below this ad
Jan spends most of his training time in Czechia working with a Spanish coach. “Sometimes I need to find some sparring to get to a higher level. Sometimes I go over to France. Also I was in Dubai with Viktor (Axelsen) for one week after the Thailand Masters. Viktor had four weeks of training before the French Open, so it was really hard. We’ve really good conditions now in Czechia. I also play league matches in France. It’s good to play there, because the French league is one of the best in Europe,” he told BWF.
He would celebrate his big Sudirman moment saying he was happy to register a first point against Korea for his nation.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd