CHENGDU: The Thomas Cup Finals has not been Denmark’s Anders Antonsen’s (pic) cup of tea.
But the world No. 4 Antonsen, who is more confident of his game these days, is planning to change all that when he goes through the first real test against Malaysia in the Group D tie on Tuesday.
He was not in Denmark’s team that bagged the Cup for the first time in 2016.
He made his debut in 2018 but was not chosen to play in the quarter-finals and semi-finals. In 2020, he lost to Indonesia Jonatan Christie in the semi-finals, which saw the Danes losing 1-3.
At the last edition in 2022 Bangkok, he surprisingly went down to India’s K. Srikanth in the second singles in his team’s semi-finals clash. And Denmark went on to suffer a shock 2-3 defeat to the eventual champions.
Antonsen, who is coming into the team meet on good form after capturing gold in the European Championships in Germany earlier this month, said he wants to make his presence count when they clash against Malaysia.
He may face Leong Jun Hao in the second singles.
“I’ve prepared well for my fourth Thomas Cup. It’s a tough group with Malaysia and Hong Kong also there and are obviously on a whole different level,” he said.
“My teammates and I however will definitely step up our game to win the next matches.”
Although Denmark look stronger on paper, Antonsen does not want to look down on Malaysia, who will be relying on world No. 10 Lee Zii Jia and doubles pairs Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (No. 5) and Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (No. 15) for the points.
It is set to be a keenly fought tie with both teams likely to be vying for top spot in the group.
Denmark beat Algeria 5-0 in their opening group tie while Malaysia went past Hong Kong by the same score.
