A sudden brain aneurysm leaving Carsten Mogensen fighting for life early last year, Danish doubles star Mathias Boe said it was remarkable the way he his partner fought back and hoped that they would be able to clinch their third All England Championship title in March.
The world no. 4 pair, who clinched the silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics and won the All England Championships twice, endured a difficult phase last season when in February, Carsten collapsed in the hotel room, being numb in his left side and later it was revealed that he had actually burst aneurysm in the right side of his brain and had to undergo five hours open brain surgery in Kazan, Russia during the European Team Championships.
"It was a weird year with Carsten's illness and then coming back and going to Rio and then winning French Open, it has been an interesting year for both good and bad. It affected our Olympic preparation but it is remarkable what Carsten has done, there are not many people who can do that," said Mathias, who alongwith his partner made a comeback at Indonesia Open in May last year.
"I am really proud that we could come back and win French Open and reach back-to-back finals at China Open and Hong Kong. It shows that even though we are not young anymore we are ready to work harder to reach the top. Now our target is the All England Championship.
"It will be nice to take our third title at All England. Of course as a player you would want to win every event you play so we would look to give ourself the best chance to win the tournaments that we play this year," he added.
Besides Mathias and Carsten, Denmark has some top doubles players such as 2012 Olympics mixed doubles silver medallist Jonathan Fischer Nielsen and Rio Olymic women's doubles silver medallist, Kamilla Rytter Juhl but all of them have crossed the age of 30s.
The 36-year-old Mathias, who won the silver and bronze medal at the 2013 and 2014 World Championship at Guangzhou and Copenhagen respectively, said it is not easy to keep up with the demands of the sport.
"Experience tells us when to stop, to not push anymore. It is specially difficult for young players to find a fine balance between practicing the right amount. We take good care of body and rest and eat well. It is a factor of many things. But it is ofcourse difficult," said Mathais.
"Level in sports in general is getting higher and higher and more demanding. I am hungry for more titles and the money has also increased in badminton. So it is a factor of many things which are movitating us to keep going.
Asked if he sees himself playing the Tokyo Olympics, he said: "I am not thinking about retirement now. My body is feeling fine now. But I will see what lies in future. If someday I lose the spirit to go on, I might give up but I will take it day by day."
Mathias and Carsten saw off a spirited challenge from upcoming Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty 22-24 21-14 21-14 to reach the second round of the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold here.
"It was bit tough. They played a few international tournaments. We didn't underestimate them. When it is little more different conditions we make more mistakes," he said.
"They are by far the most talented doubles player that I have seen but it is a different thing being a talent and one thing to win a game once in a while against top players but they need to win more.
"They definitely have the potential. They are two young boys. I practiced sometime in Mumbai with Chirag. If they really want it they can do it. They have some things which they are good at. They have the potential but they need to work harder," he said.
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