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(Photo: BadmintonPhoto)
Israeli star and Uber Cup-participant join the COE
Date: 3/26/2018 4:01 PM
Published by : Emma Lollike
Ksenia Polikarpova and Kate Foo Kune are a part of the new group of players that has joined Badminton Europe’s Centre of Excellence in Holbæk. 

- Badminton Europe has tried to create a good possibility for players like me, so that is why I came and joined the centre., Ksenia Polikarpova from Israel explains of her decision to join the centre after trying it out in January this year.

- When you come from countries like mine, that only has a few players, you need sparring. The training in Holbæk has been really nice and it has given me advantages and new knowledge.

The 28-year-old will not be living at the centre but travelling back and forth as she will combine her training with her home club in Hatzor BC, in Israel. 

Polikarpova sees a great opportunity for junior players that are trying to make their way on the senior level, but also believes that there is a lot to offer players like herself and she encourages players to come and join the squad in Holbæk.


Hard and good training
Kate Foo Kune from Mauritius became an official part of the centre during the month of March, after a few weeks of trial, and her plan is to stay there at least until the year of 2020. 

The 25-year-old will finish her studies in France next month, and then she will be in Holbæk permanently. Prior to this, she was training in her club in Germany with Jonathan Persson, but the two of them have been searching for a place that could suit both of their needs.

- My goal is to go as far as possible on the world ranking. Of course, I think the Olympics is important but that’s not everything. So, if I am really good at badminton in general I will also qualify for the Olympics, so it’s a bit secondary. And I have already been to Rio, so probably it would be great to qualify for Tokyo. But I also want to be the best in the world, that is the goal.

- Training is really hard here and really good. Of course, the problem for me in the beginning was that there were not so many girls here, but I think that it is slowly starting to change now, with Ksenia being here often, and they are talking to few other players. So, hopefully, soon we will have a really good group of girls. 

Foo Kune will travel with Mauritius’ women’s team to Bangkok in May to compete at the Uber Cup Finals, and to the Gold Coast next month for the Commonwealth Games. 

Get to know the players at the Centre of Excellence by visiting our player profiles

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