EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
RETURN OF THE KING
Mervyn King tells Christopher Burns about his decision to reverse his retirement from the international set-up
W
hat inspired you to take up the sport? It was my dad. We both started at the same time when we were invited for a roll-up at a local federation green by a friend of his. I was 15 at the time, so that was thirty-one years ago.
So, if you started at the same time, then why hasn’t your dad made it on to the WBT, too? [Laughing] He’s not quite good enough I think!
What has been the highlight of your career so far? Winning the World Singles, as well as getting a medal at the Commonwealths in Delhi. That had eluded me, so to get a medal last year was great. I would have liked a gold, but I’ll settle for silver.
Do you have any unfulfilled ambitions? I’d like to play another World Outdoor Championship. I played in one in Ayr [in 2004 in which King won two bronze medals]. I’d quite like another go at that to see if I could pick up a medal.
You've announced you'd like to play for England again. Could you tell us why you had retired? Being involved in the internationals involved a lot of
travelling. That probably put me off a bit. I think that probably became a bit too much for me, especially around the time I decided to call it a day. So, in the end, I think it was just from travelling too much.
What was it that made you decide to make yourself available for international selection again? I began to miss it during the outdoor season when I was still playing a bit at club level. I really missed playing for my country = a lot more than I thought I would. I’ve got a lot of good friends in the outdoor game and I was especially missing the camaraderie and the banter with them. So now, I really want to try and get back into it.
Should you get the nod, is there anything you would still like to achieve with England? Well, it’s down to the selectors if they want to pick me. I think I’m still playing well enough at the moment to be in these sort of things. Obviously the World Outdoor Championships in Adelaide - I’d love to get into that. Beyond that, I’d love to get to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. But at the moment, all I can do is make myself available, really. The rest of it is down to the selectors.
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