In the early part of this century, Poland had a golden period of their history, culminating in the memorable 2010 European Men’s Team Championship silver medal, won in the Polish capital, Warsaw. A young 22-year-old singles player, Michal Rogalski, was part of this team. We catch up with him 10 years later.
Rogalski, now 32, is one of Poland’s top hopes to have a representative in the singles at the Olympics and walk in the footsteps of three-time Olympian Przemysław Wacha and most recently Adrian Dziółko at Rio 2016. However, it has been a tough campaign for the tall Pole, as he explains.
-I could not imagine a more difficult Olympic season like last year. I worked really hard for a good position at the beginning of the Olympic race. Qualifying for the European Games, World Championships, and became polish number one. After the European Games in Minsk, I started to play well, but then I got sick in Ghana in July for two weeks. When I recovered, I was suspended from the national team for four weeks.
At this point, the Centre of Excellence supported Rogalski with training. Rogalski goes on to say.
-In that time, after one month, I started to play very well. I played some good matches at the Polish International and Dutch Open, wherein the second round I got injured. It took me five months to recover and was the longest break in my life from tournaments.
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Crucial year
Rogalski planned to start playing again at Polish and Canadian Opens, but COVID-19 has cancelled all of them and the Olympic race has come to an abrupt halt. Giving a final comment on this year, he says.
- It wasn’t good or a bad year - just a difficult and good lesson to humble me.
Rogalski currently sits at 110 in the race to Tokyo rankings, the final qualification spot is held by Turkish player Emre Lale at 97. Looking towards the future, Rogalski shares his plans.
- I will try to play some more tournaments and see if I can still enjoy and play some good badminton. If I don’t see any progress this season, it will be the last one for me as a full-time player.
Adding a comment about if Paris 2024 is a possibility, Rogalski says.
- This year will be crucial for me. We will see!