Malaysia Open: Antonsen tips Jonassen to succeed in Malaysia

Anders Antonsen has vouched for national singles chief coach Kenneth Jonassen, saying the country has one of the best in the world as the Dane prepares for his Malaysia Open title defence which begins tomorrow.

The world number two, who has been training at the Academy Badminton Malaysia for the past week, knows Jonassen all too well having trained under him with the Danish national team.

Antonsen admits it is “strange” to see his former coach not in Denmark colours anymore, but spoke highly of the 50-year-old’s credentials.

“He’s been a close relation of mine for so many years, and I have to admit it’s strange for me to see him not representing Denmark anymore. But I wish him all the best.

“It will be interesting to follow his progress. I have been training in Europe and in Asia and Malaysia and I can tell the way of training is quite different. But I am certain if they use Ken in the right way, they will have one of the best coaches in the world,” Antonsen told Stadium Astro.

His comments come after Jonassen recently said he plans to introduce a hybrid of Asian and European playing styles after officially starting work on Jan 6.

Back to his own aspirations, Antonsen admits he needs to start from scratch again at the Malaysia Open.

“I played at the Malaysia Masters after the Malaysia Open last year and lost in the quarter-finals, so my latest memory is not a win but a defeat. I have to start again.

“Of course it was a nice feeling last year to start last year with a win, it releases some pressure. But it will be a tough task this time and I respect all players here,” he added.

The tournament’s second seed will face Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu-wei in the opening round.