Rijswijk badminton singles specialist Marc Caljouw (29) will stop playing at a high international level. The poor financial situation of the badminton association is Caljouw’s reason for making this decision. Previously, two other Dutch top badminton players, mixed doubles Robin Tabing and Selena Piek, announced that they would stop playing badminton at the highest level for the same reason.
Rijswijk badminton singles specialist Marc Caljouw (29) will stop playing at a high international level. The poor financial situation of the badminton association is Caljouw’s reason for making this decision. Previously, two other Dutch top badminton players, mixed doubles Robin Tabing and Selena Piek, announced that they would stop playing badminton at the highest level for the same reason.
Door Peter Petit
Because sports umbrella organization NOC*NSF is stopping financing, the badminton association is facing a huge deficit. The money problem at the association has consequences for Team NL, the team that represents our country 365 days a year at top international level. For Caljouw, no money means no new policy and no new trainer, which means he sees insufficient future prospects for himself.
Five competitions
Caljouw, with a highest ranking of 29th in the world rankings of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), but who has now dropped to 62nd position, will still complete the competitions in which he participates this season. There are exactly five, in addition to the Netherlands at his club DKC in The Hague, these are at clubs in Denmark, Germany, Spain and France. Every week this means quite a puzzle to plan the trip abroad, which means he hardly gets to play in his own country at DKC in The Hague. But as far as he is concerned, the times when we encounter Caljouw’s name as a participant in major international tournaments are over forever.
Wonder
Yet the door is still ajar, but only a miracle, if NOC*NSF decides to stop financing the union, can change Caljouw’s mind. At the beginning of November, the sports association will make a final decision on whether or not to stop making money available to the badminton association. Caljouw has already prepared himself to permanently retire from top badminton. The man who represented the Netherlands at the ‘Corona Olympic Games’ in Tokyo in 2021 has now found a job at an after-school care center in Arnhem, where he has been living in recent years. Caljouw does not rule out a return to his hometown of Rijswijk.
