Frenchman Alex Lanier tells us how his journey of becoming a professional badminton player began and his rapid rise to the top of the game. The 19-year-old capped a string of good results including the Japan Open win to walk away with the BWF Rising Star of the Year award in 2024.
Lanier lost to Thailand's world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn after a 11-21, 21-12, 21-23 nail-biting battle in the men's singles first round of the Malaysia Open on Wednesday (Jan 8).
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Lanier lost to Thailand's world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn after a 11-21, 21-12, 21-23 nail-biting battle in the men's singles first round of the Malaysia Open on Wednesday (Jan 8).
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
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NewsTranscript
00:00Alex, you are a newcomer in this game, and a lot of people do not really know you, can
00:24you tell us a bit about your journey to picking up the racket and playing badminton?
00:30Actually it came from my parents, they were playing badminton, so yeah, I just came and
00:35You just see them play and you learn a bit and you like the game?
00:40Yeah, I mean I was just going with them on the ball and yeah with the time, I just felt
00:46that I enjoyed playing badminton and I was also good, so yeah, these two factors gave
00:53me the wants to play badminton.
00:58Did you draw some inspiration from some players and stuff like that?
01:02I would say when I started badminton, not really, I was not really watching a lot of
01:08badminton, but then with the time and around maybe 14, yeah I was more watching Linda,
01:17Lee Chong Wei obviously, but also Anders Nortensen, I was watching quite a lot, and yeah there
01:24is also some other players, but I would say I'm taking more different parts of their game,
01:30just to have inspiration and analyse how they do.
01:35Do you think you can reach their level, try to reach their level?
01:41Yeah, I think I'm not arrived obviously, but yeah I think definitely I can reach their
01:50level, I'm also really trying hard every day to be the best, so yeah I know that I have
01:58many things to learn and many things to improve, but still I try my best to reach their level.
02:05You actually have a lot of power compared to players at your age, so do you really focus
02:11a lot on your physical training Albert?
02:14I think so, I think so yeah, but we are also just trying to practice smart, obviously hard
02:23but also smart and I think definitely it works for me.
02:28I cannot say that I'm playing like 6 hours or 7, 8, I don't know like many hours, but
02:35we are trying just to be efficient when we are practicing.
02:40Actually I see a lot of similarity, your game and Ian Jorgensen, so do you actually watch
02:48a bit of his game and learn a bit from him?
02:50Not really actually.
02:51Is this like developed, you know the game like that?
02:53Yeah I think I just developed the game like that, I saw some of his game but that's not
03:02one of the players I was watching the most, he's way older than me, so that was the period
03:10where I was young and I was not really watching badminton in general, it was not only him,
03:16I mean I was not really watching the players from this period of time.
03:22You got the Rising Star of the Year award in 2024 because of your win in Japan Open
03:29and also your rise to the top of the game, so you have a lot of expectations for yourself
03:35or what, you want to push harder?
03:37I don't know, I don't really feel it, I mean I know that there is more expectation of course
03:44but I think I'm managing quite well and playing the same way as before.