A Deep Friendship
Beiwen has become a very good friend of mine. She was practicing here (in Almere) for three weeks before the All England and then she did really well during the tournaments in Europe. After that, she went to Asia and she advised me to go to Singapore to practice with her, and also to test the practice in Asia because I have never been in Asia for training for a long time.
I went in the beginning of May and stayed for a month. I was practicing with her and the Singapore national team. I’m really happy about that. I’m really thankful for this opportunity that she arranged for me. She will also come to Almere to practice with me, so it’s a really nice relationship between us.
Growing as a Person
Of course I learned a lot from every step through the Olympics. For me, it was also about talking to media, talking about my journey as a refugee, and my story. It was really helpful for me because I got some lessons on how to talk and on what I was going to do next. So that helped me to understand what I do now.
Training in Singapore
At first I was training with the junior team because the seniors were at the SEA Games and then Sudirman Cup. Then some of the seniors returned and I practised with them. There were also some sparring partners. The coaches were really good. They gave me some tips, and instructions on various things in my game.
I really want to focus on practicing in Asia but then I think it will be nice for me to also play some tournaments there as well. The Asian style is really nice to understand, to get the strong points of their style, and then maybe add it to my style of game, because I need some of those weapons. The Asian style, with the quickness and agility, endurance, those are very good points to have.
Last Four Years
I’m really, really happy about the progress I made until now. Of course, I think I can go far more than I have right now. I like to take my time to have a good picture and then go for it. So now, I’m really thinking what I’m going to do later. When I make a decision I will go for it for sure.
Life After Tokyo 2020
After Tokyo when I come back here (Almere in Netherlands), I was planning to like keep playing badminton and also give more attention to my education. I’m still studying commercial economics, I have three years to go. It was a bit tough for me because of developments during the last two years. My family (parents and younger brother and sister) are now in the Netherlands. So that’s really good for me. I had a lot of things to arrange for them when they came here and when they got a house and everything. Now they are in a good situation. They’re also starting to learn the language. There’s a good feeling on what I’m doing now, without having to think about what they were doing in Syria.
As a player and as a person I learned a lot. Now I’m a known player for a lot of people. Even though I’m not playing a lot of tournaments right now I’m still having a good connection with players and that’s really nice for me.
