Viktor Axelsen's confession after being beaten by Ginting at All England 2024
Danish men's singles, Viktor Axelsen
– Danish men's singles, Viktor Axelsen was eliminated from All England 2024 after being defeated by Anthony Ginting.
In the match which took place at the Utilita Arena Birmingham, early Saturday morning WIB, March 16 2024, Axelsen lost in a fierce three-game battle.
In fact, Axelsen was able to dominate the first game. The world number one badminton player was unstoppable and beat Ginting with a landslide score of 21-8.
However, in the second game, Ginting slowly got up. The fifth seed was able to force the duel to the rubber game 21-18.
A fierce duel was seen in the third game with the two badminton players chasing each other for points. Ginting was able to escape the pressure after the interval to lead 18-12.
Viktor Axelsen won six points in a row, some of them due to Ginting's mistakes. The score changed to equal 18-18.
Ginting managed to get crucial points from the duel in front of the net. However, Ginting's 19th point made Axelsen protest to the referee because he thought Ginting had committed a fault when he gave the ball slowly over the net which was struck by his opponent.
Axelsen showed angry gestures. However, the referee did not budge. In the end, the rubber game ended with Anthony Sinisuka Ginting winning 21-19.
After the match, Axelsen admitted that he was very annoyed with this match. "I don't have much to say," said a still annoyed Axelsen, quoted by TV2 Sport Denmark.
"Of course very sad and frustrated (over the incident). This is really unfortunate, very, very unfortunate," he said full of disappointment," he continued.
Furthermore, Axelsen believes that Ginting made a mistake. In fact, if it was wrong he felt that his eyes were already blind.
"I'm sorry about my level of performance. I didn't feel in good condition. However, I had a chance to win and of course I am very sorry for what happened at the end," he explained.
"I don't know... if for example it wasn't a fault, that's really crazy. That means I'm blind, maybe I should go to Louis Nielsen (an optics shop in Denmark, ed.)," stressed Axelsen.