Badminton: Decoding the stats of Olympic gold-medalist Viktor Axelsen
What's the story
Denmark's Viktor Axelsen, on Monday, won the gold medal in badminton at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He claimed the historic gold after defeating China's Chen Long 21-15, 21-12 in a high-octane final. With this, Axelsen became the first non-Asian man to clinch the singles title at Olympics since 1996. Axelsen had won the bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Here are his career stats.
Career
Axelsen has won 399 matches in his career
World number two Axelsen has won 399 out of 534 matches as of now. Besides winning an Olympic gold, Axelsen has also won the gold medal in World Championships (men's singles), European Championships (men's singles), World Junior Championships (men's singles), and European Junior Championships (men's singles), Thomas Cup (men's team), European Mixed Team Championships, and European Men's Team Championships.
Form
Axelsen is 37-2 in the ongoing season
Axelsen has a win-loss record of 37-2 in the ongoing season. Earlier this year, the Danish player won the Swiss Open after defeating Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21-16, 21-6 in the final. In January, he won the Thailand Open with a 21-11, 21-7 victory over Hans-Kristian Vittinghus. However, he finished as the runner-up of All England Open, having lost to Lee Zii Jia in the final.
Title
Early success for Axelsen
In 2010, Axelsen competed at the World Junior Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico. He claimed the boys' singles title by defeating Kang Ji-wook of Korea in the final. The former also beat Huang Yuxiang in the quarter-finals, India's B Sai Praneeth in the semi-finals. With this, he had become the first-ever European player to hold the World Junior Championships title.
World Championship
Third Danish player to win the World Championship
In 2017, Axelsen won the World Championship in Glasgow with a straight-game victory over Lin Dan. He became the third Danish player to become a world champion after Peter Rasmussen in Glasgow (1997) and Flemming Delfs in Sweden (1977). Axelsen followed it up by winning the Japan Open in Tokyo. This propelled him to the top of the BWF World Rankings.
Feats
Here are his other significant feats
Axelsen secured his first European title in May 2016 after beating Jan O Jorgensen at the European Championships. He was also a part of the Danish team that won the first-ever Thomas Cup title. Notably, he won five of his six singles matches in the team tournament. Axelsen also won the bronze medal match at the Rio 2016 Olympics by beating Lin Dan.