EUROPE’S
20 YEAR WAIT! PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE. MEANING: THE ABILITY TO WAIT FOR SOMETHING WITHOUT FRUSTRATION OR UPSET IS A VALUABLE CHARACTER TRAIT IN A PERSON. Virtue or not, patience is starting to wear incredibly thin across Europe as far as waiting to celebrate a YONEX All England men’s singles title goes. The champagne has been chilling on ice for some 20 years now. The big 2.0. 20 years since Peter Gade’s heroics against Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat at the Arena Birmingham in 1999. There were tears of joy, faces filled with disbelief and a 22 year old overcome and overwhelmed with what he had just achieved. But the disbelief in victory has manifested itself into disbelief that Europe looks on 20 years later and there is still no new genuine heir to Gade’s throne in Birmingham. It is difficult to imagine such a wait considering the depth and breadth of European talent that has poured into the men’s game over all those years.
But two decades on and the wait continues. In fact the celebratory champagne that many want to pop open is less chilling on ice, more near frozen solid. Even Peter Gade – and it is his record after all that everyone has eyes on - would admit that he is keener than most to see the milestone broken, and quickly. Many inside Europe’s badminton family had hoped the last few years would have broken new ground. Jan O Jorgensen’s historic title win in China – Europe’s first ever in 30 years of the China Open - in 2016, and on the back of a YONEX All England final, was rightly considered a new dawn. But it was Jan’s last title win on the world circuit. AllEnglandOfficial
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