SINGAPORE OPEN 2010 Finals – World Champions’ new achievement

By Serla Rusli, Badzine Correspondent, reporting live from Singapore Indoor Stadium. Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

“We just couldn’t get into our game at all,” commented Lilyana Natsir after their defeat.  Denmark became the fifth country to get the share of glory in this tournament as the duo prevented double title for Indonesia.

“We are really happy to be able to win here in Singapore. Normally we find it hard to play in this hall, so we are happy that we could play well today. This victory is really special since this is our first Super Series title,” declared Thomas Laybourn.

The pair’s coach Claus Poulsen shared some of his views on his team’s performance. “I’m satisfied with the Danish team performance. We are training very hard physically back home so a lot of players came here with tired legs. This is especially the case for the younger players as some of them have never been here before. Thus, we sent them here to give them experiences to play in Asia.  While for some of the more experienced players, this tournament is meant to see where they are standing after the training that we have put in back home. So all-in-all, I’m okay, satisfied.”

Claus Poulsen is one of the two current coaches for the Danish squad. He and Lars Uhre, who coached mainly the singles shuttlers, had the whole force of Team Denmark under them after Kenneth Jonassen resigned and relocated to England.

“We still haven’t decided what is going to happen to the men’s singles coach vacancy.  We are definitely going to get either one or two coaches within a short period of time, but for now we are not really clear about it and that’s a process we are working on. It’s been pretty busy for me and Lars. We would really love to have 4 or 5 coaches like a lot of other countries, but unfortunately that is not the case.”

Laybourn launches yet another innovative sponsorship scheme

Throughout the whole week in Singapore, Thomas Laybourn (photo) donned his signature ‘I Need a Sponsor’ shirt. This is part of his continuous attempt to raise funds to support his badminton career.

Recently, he launched an innovative idea to sell ‘stocks’ of himself taking the form of a mini-sponsorship by individuals to support his career. Unlike normal stocks, Laybourn’s ‘investors’ will get ‘returns’ in terms of merchandise and tickets for all his competitions throughout the year.

“It is getting harder for players to get sponsors and I figured I need to find new ways to raise funds for myself.  If a player doesn’t have a sponsor, they will have to get another job and will have less time to practice. I want to be able to dedicate my time for badminton, so if I am able to get more sponsors, I can focus on my practice,” elaborated the part-time graphic designer about his new project.

Details for Thomas Laybourn’s ‘stocks’ can be found on his website at www.laybourn.net/stocks.

For complete results for the 2010 Li-Ning Singapore Open Super Series, CLICK HERE

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