Niks Podosinoviks travelled from the Centre of Excellence (COE) in Holbæk to his home country of Latvia, where we would defend his national championship title, the past weekend.
When the weekend was successfully over, Podosinoviks managed to win three titles in all three events; men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles. Three out of three.
- First of all, I would like to say that I didn't achieve all the titles playing alone. Big thanks to my partners in men’s doubles and mixed doubles, they showed good performance and it was easy to play together with them, Podosinoviks explained to Badminton Europe.
- I am happy that I managed to defend my men’s singles title again, this was fourth in a row and I hope that I will get many more the next years.
Confidence and improvements
The triple national champion has not played in Latvia for the past five months, and at the nationals he understood that he had improved his footwork and his movements;
- I felt also really confident and free on the court, that helped me a lot. I can definitely say that training at the Centre of Excellence helps me a lot! I will keep training, keep fighting and keep pushing the limits towards my biggest goals.
Podosinoviks is staying in Latvia with his compatriots as they are preparing for the 2018 European Men’s & Women’s Team Championships in Kazan, which starts 13 February. After the tournament, the Latvian will return to normal in Holbæk, Denmark, at the Centre of Excellence.
Other big COE results
Podosinoviks’ fellow COE players Matthew Abela from Malta and Iikka Heino from Finland, also won titles at the national championships this weekend. Abela won the men’s singles title while he finished as runner ups in mixed doubles.
Heino, on the other hand, won the men’s doubles title with Henri Aarnio; 21-13, 24-22. Furthermore, the Finn made it all the way to the semifinal in men’s singles and earned a bronze medal for his efforts.
In Sweden, Felix Burestedt won a bronze medal in men’s singles, and the same was the case for Milan Ludik in Czech Republic.