DENMARK: TIN TIN SET TO TAKE OVER FOR MORTEN FROST
by Martin Coe

March 2, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - According to sources at the Danish badminton association, world mixed doubles champion Thomas Lund will be taking over Morten Frost's position as the sports director for the association.

Frost, a badminton great in men's singles, had brought great success to Denmark as sports director including Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen's Olympic gold medal, but he was frustrated by criticism and disagreements with players and with the association. He resigned from the sports directorship at the start of the year and is now the head badminton coach for Malaysia.

Lund, nicknamed Tin Tin by his fellow players, will be assuming the post on July 1. In the meantime, national coach Henrik Lyngby will continue in a dual role until after the world championships in late May.

Ironically, Lund was one of the players who had disagreements with Frost while the Danish men's singles legend was sports director.

The 28-year old Lund brings many successful years of international badminton competition to the job. Tin Tin has two world mixed doubles championships, two All-England mixed doubles titles, an All-England men's doubles crown, two world men's doubles silver medals, one world mixed doubles silver and a whole host of other doubles titles.

Lund is often mentioned in the same breath as the legendary Park Joo Bong of Korea when knowledgeable badminton fans talk about the greatest doubles players of all time. Tall and lanky with a great reach and with a great ability to place his shots, Tin Tin dominated mixed doubles from 1992 to 1995 when he decided to concentrate on men's doubles.

In his last mixed doubles encounter with Park Joo Bong at the world mixed team championships in 1993 in Birmingham, Lund was the victor.

Lund inherits a strong and successful Danish program deep in men's singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles talent. The weak spot in the Danish team is women's singles with only Camilla Martin able to contend with the top Chinese, Indonesian and Korean players. In men's doubles, Lund will have to do some player development.

His retirement after the All-England in mid-March as well as the earlier retirement of Henrik Svarrer leaves Denmark with only one top-flight men's doubles pair made up of his partner Jon Holst-Christensen and Svarrer's partner Michael Sogaard. Danish Open champions Jim Laugessen and Thomas Stavngaard are capable but need more international experience and success, as does the pairing of Jens Eriksen and Christian Jakobsen.

** This NEW SHUTTLENWS report is sponsored by YANG YANG BADMINTON EQUIPMENT and their Finland agents, RACKETSERVICE K.Y. (Tel. 9-6801690). **