Denmark’s Anders Antonsen in action. (Reuters)
World’s fourth-ranked badminton player Anders Antonson immediately terminated his coaching agreement with personal coach Joachim Persson on Saturday after claiming that he had spotted his coach placing bets on matches during the Japan Open.
The Danish player took to Instagram to reveal his decision to terminate the contract. “The other day I by coincidence got to see my coach placing bets on one match taking place in the arena. As a coach of one player competing in the BWF, this is a violation.”
“As a player competing in the BWF you’re obligated to report such behavior as soon as it comes to your knowledge. Failing not to report such information would be a violation on the BWF code of conduct. I want to distance myself from this behavior and therefore the only option has been to report and terminate our agreement.” he wrote.
Antonson and Persson have been working together since the December of 2022. “Joachim has been my only coach since I went independent. He has been a huge part of my comeback story. We have traveled the world together. We did amazing and accomplished multiple tournament wins together. I’Il always be grateful for the time we’ve spent.”
“So obviously I’m absolutely gutted and sick to my stomach that this is the way our ways end. would like to clarify that I don’t know anything about the duration of this behavior. I know about one single incident of placing bets on a random match – but that for me is enough. Also the match didn’t include myself!” he added.
Noteciabbly Persson was involved in a match scandal back in 2019 for which he was banned for a year and a half by the International Badminton Federation. However, the 41-year-old did not agree with the decision at the time. “I want to explode inside, but I knew it would come, so I’ve been preparing for two years. But it’s not funny, and I think it’s totally ridiculous, he said.
