Fatherly advice
National coach Morten Olsen has advised Christian Eriksen to remain at Ajax for the rest of the season, despite hefty interest from bigger league clubs. Olsen, who likes to advise his players, contended that Eriksen, 20, would benefit by staying to play in the Europa League and for the Dutch Eredivisie title. Eriksen has contributed four league goals so far this season, and Ajax sit three points behind joint the league leaders, PSV and Twente.
Gade bids farewell
Peter Gade ended his career in front of friends and royalty last week on Thursday night as one of his sport’s all-time greats by beating eternal arch-nemesis Lin Dan 20-22, 21-16, 21-14 in a farewell exhibition match at the Copenhagen Masters. Gade’s 16-year career included 24 Grand Prix wins, five World Championship medals, 10 Copenhagen Masters triumphs, an All-England victory and a stint as the world’s top-ranked player.
Sehr gut, Leon
Despite suffering another serious injury and only playing ten matches this season, Danish midfielder Leon Andersen has been voted the player of the year at his German club, Hannover 96. The unlucky Andersen, who had only just returned from lengthy spell out before once again succumbing to a knee injury, received the most votes by the readers of the local newspaper, Hannoversche Allgemeine
Not exactly stellar
Caroline Wozniacki finished 2012 on a disappointing note by committing 38 unprovoked errors and falling to a player ranked almost 100 places below her at the Brisbane International tournament last week. After Wozniacki, who was sporting her new Stella McCartney outfit, won the first set 6-2, Ksenia Pervak from Kazakhstan took control and sent the Dane tumbling from the tournament 2-6, 6-3, 7-6.
Ladies take kabbadi bronze
The Danish women's kabbadi team finished third in the World Cup in India after beating England 19-16. But while the ladies celebrated a famous bronze in what was their debut in the tournament, the men’s side were ousted in the group stages. The sport is immensely popular in India, Pakistan and Iran, and few were surprised to see India, the hosts and defending champions, win both the men’s and women’s finals.
Raising Arizona roofs
Jonathan Gilling, a 2.04-metre sophomore forward for Arizona State, has been putting up solid numbers on the US college basketball scene over the past weeks, including a 18-point, 12-rebound performance against Texas Tech in late December. Gilling, who hails from Rungsted Kyst, continues to impress after breaking onto the college scene last year. Meanwhile, his sister, Mathilde, is a 1.92-metre freshman that balls for the University of Washington.
