Source: Panoramic / JB Autissier
[Saba Sports News] Danish media TV2 reported that Denmark’s national badminton team coach Kenneth Jonassen submitted his resignation to the Danish Badminton Association in early September. Thomas Stavngaard will be promoted to head coach of the Danish national badminton team starting January 1, 2025. Fans may not have much impression of this bald coach; they might recall the 2022 Denmark Open when the Chinese pair Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong defeated the Danish pair Mikkelsen/Hansen 2-1. During the match, the Chinese pair was controversially called for nine service faults, which upset Yang Ming, the head coach of the Chinese mixed doubles team. After the first two games, Yang Ming approached the main referee but was shoved by a Danish coach. The coach who pushed Yang Ming was Thomas Stavngaard. Later, the Danish badminton team apologized to the Chinese team but did not punish Stavngaard. Besides pushing coaches, Stavngaard is also nicknamed “the disciplinary committee of badminton,” as he frequently files complaints with the BWF about various issues. For instance, in June 2022, he complained about a line judge sleeping during a match at the Indonesia Masters. In 2018, he reported Liu Yuchen and three other Chinese men’s doubles players for playing passively at the China Open, resulting in a three-month ban for those four players from the BWF. Additionally, he suggested that the BWF establish a new tour to replace existing BWF events.