After cancer battle, Gustav Björkler grateful to be back on badminton's biggest stage

NEW DELHI: At 17 kilos lighter and with virtually no muscle left on his body, Gustav Björkler had to rediscover what it meant to be a badminton player.

Cancer had taken away his physical strength. Rebuilding it took time. But the Swedish shuttler never lost the belief that he would one day return to the court.

Björkler was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a form of blood cancer, in 2018. After undergoing chemotherapy and a stem-cell transplant, he was declared healthy in 2019.

"I didn't have any muscle on my body at all. I was the same height, but almost 15 to 17 kilos less. So I didn't have any physicality at all," Björkler told PTI Videos after his match.

"It took some time to get these things back."

The experience changed more than just his body. Having once fought something far more important than a badminton match.

"Of course, it affects you mostly mentally, I think, and it gives you another perspective on life as a whole," he said.

"You think of life in another way and you're quite happy just to be healthy and to be able to live a normal life."

That perspective has stayed with Björkler even as he returned to the demands of professional badminton. He said he never lost belief that he would overcome the illness and make his way back to the highest level.

"That was something that helped me quite a lot when I went through the sickness. It really helped me to really push and just make the best out of it," he said.

Today, he does not want the illness to define him.

Asked what he would like people to know about him beyond his cancer story, Björkler kept the answer refreshingly simple.

"I'm just a guy that likes to play badminton and enjoying badminton life at the moment," he said. "I'm really, really blessed that I'm healthy now."

His comeback is taking place against another challenge while trying to develop as an elite badminton player in Sweden, where the sport does not enjoy the kind of popularity like in some of Europe's leading badminton nations.

Björkler has moved to Copenhagen to find better training and sparring, a decision that he believes can help him take the next step.

"Badminton is of course not that big in Sweden so I made a move to Denmark. I live in Copenhagen, I practice there," he said.

"Not so many youngsters play badminton. They play football, ice hockey... these kinds of things. We have to find solutions to get the right sparring and the right training."

He has already showed glimpses of the level he wants to reach, representing Sweden at the Thomas Cup and facing players such as Chou Tien Chen and Anders Antonsen.

His World Championships campaign may have ended in the opening round, but Björkler's focus is already on the next step.

"My target is to go back to the top 100 and just develop myself and be a better player and play the bigger tournaments," he said.

For Björkler, the ambition is no longer simply about proving that he could return after cancer. It is about seeing how far he can go now that he is healthy again.

And perhaps that is the most important part of his story as he doesn't want to be remembered primarily as the player who survived cancer. He wants to be remembered as the player who simply loves badminton.