ENGLAND welcomes Coach Jonassen!

Jonassen counts the 2008 European Championships, the 2004 Singapore Open and the 2003 Korea Open among his many international men’s singles titles and he has coached Denmark’s top singles players for the past two years.

BADMINTON England Chief Executive Adrian Christy was quoted in the press release as saying: “Kenneth joins us at an exciting time for badminton in this country. England have three men’s singles players in the world’s top 35 with three-time English National champion Rajiv Ouseph knocking on the door to the world’s top 20 at No 23.

“We are looking to Kenneth to use all his experience to help take our top singles players forward, starting with the World Championships in Paris at the end of August and the Commonwealth Games in India in October.

“Kenneth will be a key member of our coaching set-up, which will be strengthened further when fellow Dane Jens Grill returns to BADMINTON England in September as Head of England Performance.

“This appointment confirms our continued commitment to developing a world-class singles programme and Kenneth will bring a wealth of knowledge to our coaching team. He has a real sense of what it takes to create a medal winning environment; the key principle we are striving to put into place.”

“I’m looking forward to this new challenge,” said Jonassen.  “My personal goals are clear: bringing the singles event to another level on the international stage and, over time, developing new talent that can compete with the best of China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea and Denmark. It’s going to take a lot of hard work but I believe that the talent is there.”