Hello guys!

Here I am again ready to share with you a fantastic month towards my Olympic qualification; actually the month started the best way for me because I had the chance to play with the first team the first team match of the season, which allows me to play the rest of the season when I´ll be back.  Unfortunately we lost 7-6 against Værløse, pretty tight but I´m sure that the final score could have been different if our friend Anu wouldn´t have suffer an unexpected injury, so I hope that she will have a full recovery soon so she can play at her best level.

After that team match in Copenhagen I flew straight to Peru, but just stayed two days at home because I had to fly to Guatemala for the first tournament of the month.  The days previous the tournament in Guatemala were to get used to the conditions, specially the altitude because Guatemala City is around 1300mts from sea level so the shuttle was incredible fast sometimes; also the hall over there was not from the same standards that we usually find here in Denmark, but I didn´t give much importance to that, I always feel good when I compete at Pan Am tournaments... I feel like playing at “home court” regardless the country we are playing at.

Anyways, the tournament started and lucky for me I had two first games without big problems, I started to feel better and better in that court, and that is what I was going to need against my next opponent; I was going to face Kaveh Mehrabi, Iranian international player who also lives and practices in Denmark, he is a very experience player in the circuit who has attend already one Olympics in 2008, but most of all Kaveh is a good friend of mine.  Nevertheless at that moment on court Kaveh was the big obstacle I wanted to overcome to reach quarter finals and get some good world ranking point; the night before I prepared myself on how I was going to play him tactically... I was ready for the challenge! 

The next day our game started and little by little things were going the right way for me, I liked how the game was progressing as I felt pretty much in control though out the game, I focus a lot on not to give easy points and use the right strokes when needed, and I believe that that patience gave me the right strength to play in a good level during the whole game.  I was so happy to win that match because it gave me a lot of confidence on my game, good world ranking points, and the winning feeling that I needed again!

My next match in quarter finals was against a Russian giant of 2.05mts! yes... he was a tall player indeed! I knew that if I wanted to win that match I had to play very clever, very careful and very patient, well... I did that mostly on the first set as the score was very tight the whole time, but unfortunately lost by just two points, then the second set was different, and he took advantage of my impatience and took the victory for him

Nevertheless I left Guatemala with a very good feeling, and some good ranking points in the pocket! 

I returned to Peru afterwards but just for two days again as I had to leave to Brasil for the next competition, I was quiet sad because didn’t have the chance to spend some more time with my family, but they understood that this year was going to be like this and is always nice that have the support of the family regardless the difficulties you could find though out the journey.

In Brasil the conditions were much better in the hall, and for sure the weather as well, for sure that week I was not missing at all our lovely Danish weather, but don´t worry, didn´t have much time to enjoy it... I was there for other purposes; I wanted to play a good tournament again!

The first match I had to play was against the African Games Champion, a good player from South Africa, but I was very prepared to start strong the tournament, and I did! Had a very good performance against this guy taking the victory in two good sets.  My next opponent in the last 16 round was a good player from USA who has been performing well lately at international competitions, I knew it was going to be a tight and hard game, and it was! All the time the score were very tight until the last moments of each set, lucky for me things worked my way in those crucial moments and two the victory by three points in the first set and just by two points in the second set.  Lots of happiness again! I reached quarter finals again and some good points for the world ranking!

In quarter finals I faced one of the strongest players in the tournament, Pedro Martins from Portugal, this player is well known around the international circuit for his explosiveness and for being a very aggressive player, well... I found it myself when I played him.  Despite his very good level I was able to give him a good fight in the beginning of the game, I was playing at the same speed and with a lot of accuracy, and that allowed me to take the first set, but that level for me was just temporally as he was the clear dominant in the next two sets where he took the victory

I was very happy once again for a good result in this tournament, and overall between Guatemala and Brasil was very successful in terms of giving the right direction to the Olympic qualification.  But in the other hand I still need a lot to improve and to focus on, I know that I still can do much better, I know that I can beat some very good players, I know that I can go that extra mile, and from now on that will be my main focus...

Ok guys, hope you have enjoyed the updates of my tournaments during this month.  I will keep you updated how things will be in October where I will playing the most important tournament of this year for me, the Pan Am Games, which are like Olympics for our Continent.

So more than ever... please keep your fingers cross for me during this month, but as always, be sure that I will try my best to get one step closer to London 2012!

 Kom Så !!!

My dear Triton friends,

August was a month mainly for preparation for me, I didn´t want to play many tournaments as I wanted to give my full focus on build up my physical condition and be ready for the start of the new season.

Well, there was one tournament, and a big one actually, I went to London to play the World Championships, the draw was not the best for me as I had to face the former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat from Indonesia.  As you can imagine for me was a great opportunity to play somebody like him and from a much higher level than mine, so I just took the opportunity as a big experience that I wanted to enjoy as much as possible.

Once in London it was great to feel the atmosphere of the World Championships, and be surrounded by the best players from our sport, sharing practice courts with them or even sitting next table at breakfast from Lee Chong Wei, Taufik, or other big gunners.

The day of my game arrived, and I felt quiet good after having a great couple of weeks training with Kenneth and Agnese, my warm up was the usual one and my focus was 100%, but my expectations from the game perhaps were to high before going on court.  I knew it was an important game for me as I was in the spotlight playing on “TV Court”, so my main concern was to perform very well in front of the public and in front of the cameras.

But I guess I gave to much importance to that issue during the game, because instead of just playing and focusing on my game, I was giving to much thinking to the issue of being in front of the cameras where people around the world could had the chance to see me... as my family did.  So for telling you the truth I didn´t like my game against Taufik, I didn´t like it at all, I made to many unforced errors and didn´t give him a big fight, I felt very sad about it because I wanted to perform so well against him, but what really happened was the opposite.

Anyways, at least a good lesson I learnt from it, and I believe that the experience of being on the spotlight helped me to know how to handle those situations if another opportunity would rise.  As I have already said before in another of my articles, we just need to go out there, give your best, have fun, and fight for every rally as it would be the last one!  Once you start thinking or give importance about external issues for sure it will have an influence on what you are doing on court. 

Afterwards when I came back from London my main focus was to prepare myself to get to my next tournaments in my best condition, September was going to be an important tournament as I will be playing two international tournaments, one in Guatemala and the other in Brasil, I knew I had the chance to get some good results on those tournaments, but for that I needed to be prepared... and that is what I did!

So hopefully next time when I will write you about September it will be in a very positive way after those tournaments, be sure that I will do my best!

See you next time!