BANGALORE: It would probably require a Cardusian effort to do full justice to « player of Morten Frost’s caliber. The Danish badminton superstar dominated a decade marked by the Chinese resurgence like few players before him. His fire round defeat on Monday in the World Championship in his former hometown of Copenhagen and his subsequent retirement brought the curtain down on an era Surely Frost was one of the last of the stroke players in these times when power and speed have relegated grace and artistry to the background.

Denmark has produced a succession of champions right from 1940s when players such as Tage Madsen Poul Holm Jom Skaanp Maric Ussing Kinten Thomdahl and Schiott Jacobsen ruled supreme at the All-England Championships once considered as the unofficial World Championship and often likened to the Wimbledon tournament in tennis Then followed stroke players like Firin Kobbero Hammergaard Hansen Erland Kops Nielsen Svend Pri Flemming Deifs Lene Koppen and finally Prost himself. A badminton heritage any country would be proud of.

Frost had won his Thomas Cup.in 1978 but was yet to develop into a truly world class player at the time Prakash moved to Denmark On his part Prakash did admit that Frost learnt many a valuable lesson from their training sessions. Ironically Prakash after his initial dominance over Frosty saw the Dane transform into his nemesis. But the two stood up to the Chinese stars like Han Jian Luan Jin Chen Changjie Zhao Jianhua and Yang Yang.

While Prakash’s fortunes were on the wane his decline coincided with the rise of Frost. Blessed with a quick eye Frost’s game revolved around his footwork which evens a ballet artist would a desire. Coupled with that was his long reach (he stood six feet one inch) and elegant stroke play not to speak of absolute fitness and tenacity which made him into a truly world-class player.

RISETO STARDOM: But Frost s rise to stardom was far from a smooth. Born on April 41958 in the small town of Nykobing Frost suffered from constant astharna attack It grew so worse that playing badminton was virtually an impossibility. But From defied the odds and willed him to overcome the illness to author’s fairytale career in badminton.

There after Frost won virtoally every major tile but the one which was to elude him was the word singles crown Thin failure is something inexplicable As such he was like a king without a crows From was infinitely more hard Working than two of us immediate predecessors Svend Pr and Flanming Dells. The tall Delfs with his movie-star looks and a great backhand won the inaugural World Championship in Malmo Sweden in 1977 the year when he also picked up his only All-England tide but thereafter faded gradually.

The 1980 World Champion was dominated by Hartono and his compatriots in Jakarta. The 1983 event was held in Copenhagen and Frost obviously was an overwhelming favorite. But leuk Sugiarto the Indonesian with a supreme retrieving ability cut down Frost in the quarter finals and carried on to best Liern Swie King in an epic final widely acclaimed as the greatest ever badminton match played anywhere in the world.

Article extracted from this publication >> May 24, 1991