Olympics-Axelsen looks to get the balance right before badminton title defence

By Richa Naidu

LONDON (Reuters) - Tokyo badminton gold medallist Viktor Axelsen is not resting on his laurels ahead of the Paris Olympics but the Dane is being careful not to overdo it in training having reached the age of 30.

With nine Olympic medals, Denmark has for years been a top contender in badminton. Two of those medals have been gold - one bagged in men's singles three years ago by Axelsen.

Axelsen told Reuters that people tended to underestimate the physical intensity of the sport but that he was looking for a bit more balance in his training regime heading to Paris.

"It has been more of a challenge this time around, making sure that I time my training in the right way and don't overdo it," Axelsen, who towers over his rivals at nearly 2 metres tall, said.

"While before the Tokyo Olympics, I could just push in training and I recovered a little bit faster than I'm doing now.

"I've turned 30 as well and I think that makes a big difference. In your 30s, you really have to make sure that you do everything you can in order to recover."

Axelsen said he had recovered well from rolling his right ankle during a match against Taiwan's Lin Chun-Yi at the Singapore Open in late May, an injury that forced him to withdraw from the semi-finals of that tournament.

The main threats to his bid to emulate Lin Dan in 2008 and 2012 by retaining the men's singles title are China's Shi Yuqi and Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia but also his compatriot Anders Antonsen, the fourth seed.

"An all-Denmark final would obviously be absolutely amazing," Axelsen said. "But, let's see - there are obviously a lot of strong contenders.

"There's a big bunch of players in the top 15 who can who can make a run for it," Axelsen said. "We are closer in level -- the difference in level of play is not how it was in Tokyo."

(Reporting by Richa Naidu; Editing by Nick Mulvenney and Alison Williams)