BWF World Junior Championships: Simon Rasmussen, Philip Boe aim to extend the Danish legacy

Around the halfway mark of a tense first game during his BWF World Junior Championships debut at the National Centre of Excellence on Monday, a nervous Simon Rasmussen seeked reassurance from his father.

A bespectacled 51-year-old man, wearing a navy-blue t-shirt and burgundy shorts, cheered him on from the stands — Peter Rasmussen, the 1997 World Champion from Denmark.

Back in the zone, Simon won 15-12, 15-9 against England’s Anish Nair to book his place in the second round.

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“The first match is always difficult, and his opponent was also playing well but I think he managed to get his game going and played some good net shots,” Peter told Sportstar after the match.

Despite growing up in a household where except his mother (a lawyer), his father, elder brother Oskar and younger sister Rosa all played badminton, pursuing the sport professionally wasn’t the obvious choice for Simon.

The Karate Kid, a 2010 film starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan in the lead roles, had left a huge impression on the young Dane’s mind. “As a child, I watched that movie and I thought he (Smith) looked very cool when he did all the tricks,” revealed the 18-year-old Simon.

The rise of Kento Momota, a two-time World Champion from Japan who retired last year, is what made Simon fall in love with badminton. “He became my idol,” he said.

Simon trains under Frank Larsen and Marie Roepke at the Peter Gade Academy at a club in the Gentofte Municipality in Copenhagen.

Peter, one of only three non-Asian male World Champions, does share his experiences with Simon but he can’t be his full-time coach as he is also an eye surgeon. “I took a break from medical school since I was playing badminton professionally. Later, in my career, I resumed studying and in 2004, I became a doctor,” said Peter, who officially retired from badminton in 2005.

After working in hospitals for many years, Peter bought his own clinic two weeks ago. Add his son’s debut win at World Junior Championships and it is a fortnight to remember!

A Boe is back in India

Simon is not the only kid in Guwahati who is carrying the legacy of a Danish star.

Philip Kryger Boe, the nephew of Mathias Boe — an Olympic silver medallist, who was the coach of top Indian doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty till Paris Olympics — also began his campaign with a 15-12, 15-7 win over Norway’s Aldrin Nelson.

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“My whole family plays badminton. Mathias also gives me advice sometimes. I spar and talk with him a lot,” said the 18-year-old Philip, whose elder brother William played doubles at last week’s Arctic Open, a Super 500 event, in Finland.

Who after Axelsen and Antonsen?

Viktor Axelsen (31 years old), a two-time Olympic and World Champion, and Anders Antonsen (28 years old), the current World No. 2, have been the top Danish players in men’s singles for a while.

But Peter feels there is a void after those two and expects youngsters like Simon and Philip to step up in the future. “Hopefully, we will have a big group of young players coming up together where there are better chances to develop and get good world-class players. Anders and Victor are maybe like one in a million players. If you have a group of players together, you can achieve well,” he said.

Published on Oct 14, 2025