Jan Louda was five years old, when his father showed him his current profession: badminton. The 19-year-old player from Plzeň, Czech Republic, is currently ranked 130 in the men’s singles. He spoke with Badminton Europe about his goals and ambitions.
- My next goal is to be ranked in the world’s Top 100. But in the long-term, I want to be one of the Top 50 players in the world. Of course, I know that it will be a long way to accomplish that.
Next goal: Olympic games
Jan Louda has already collected some titles. This year, for example, he won the Kharkiv International in the Ukraine, the Championship of the Czech Republic and reached the fifth place in the European Team Championships. And the Czech has huge ambitions for the future:
- I hope that I can qualify for the Olympic games 2020. The qualifications start in May 2019, so I hope I perform well then to be able to go to Tokyo.
To fulfill this dream, the Czech player knows how to improve:
- I could work a bit on my confidence on the field. I should think more about being able to beat every opponent, I might be able to reach my goals then.
Jan Louda’s next steps are the Polish International and the Czech Open. For Poland, the 19-year-old has one goal: Defending his champion title from 2017.