PETALING JAYA: Viktor Axelsen (pic) of Denmark will spend some time to figure out what had gone wrong in his game.
On Wednesday, top seed and heavy favourite Viktor Axelsen suffered a first round exit in the All-England in Birmingham on Wednesday.
The Dane lost 19-21, 21-13, 11-21 to spirited Lin Chun-yi of Taiwan, who fought brilliantly in the 54-minute match.
The two-time Olympic Games champion had come in as favourite after winning his first German Open title two weeks ago but was devastated.
“My body didn’t really allow me to play good badminton today,” said Axelsen during the Badminton World Federation (BWF) post interview.
“Full credit to my opponent. I need to figure out what to do. The last couple of months I’ve been trying to see what I can do.
“I have no excuses – I lost to a better opponent.
“I got a little bit tense when my body was feeling bad, and that affected my entire game.
“But no excuses. To be honest, there’s a longer break awaiting me after this tournament,” added Axelsen, who has won the All-England twice before.
He is not competing in next week’s Swiss Open in Basel.
