Felipe Shahzad

I am one of seven boys and the only one who managed to win the first round in the national final last year. I was then selected to be the coach of the team at the Olympic Games in Moscow and it was great to meet all the world’s best and meet all the different religions. The team was able to qualify for the final despite having our first round loss against China. From that moment on it was all about the Olympic title, and we were going to give it to my teammates no matter what. The team we had was strong, talented and had good chemistry. I can think of no one who caused us problems. The Chinese were obviously the team with most motivation and it was so amazing to see how strong they are, but also how they had to play against us. I think they were the better team from the qualification stages, so we were confident we’d defeat them at the finals.

Q: Do you ever think about that Olympic qualifying period and if so, what would have been the most fun day at the office for the team?

RH: I think I would have been able to enjoy it, but what I would have liked to have done was to have had the opportunity to do things with my teammates and friends back then. You see those days now. I think I would have loved the chance to have stayed with them.

Q: With all your success it feels as if you must feel it’s time to retire?

RH: Yes, but I don’t have any plans for after my playing career.

Q: That’s very kind of you, but are you ever worried that any retirement will come knocking and make you feel guilty?

RH: No, not at all. As long as I am coaching sports I think I should have as many opportunities as possible to coach. There’s plenty of reasons why I can be happy coaching sports, but coaching still has that big feeling that you want to make a difference. Not taking an opportunity when it comes, then how do you make a difference when I take another opportunity? I think I should have more opportunities to do so.

Q: Can you tell us about your relationship with your wife, Kim and if the two of you would go out together, do you have any dreams of becoming a celebrity couple again?

RH: My wife Kim and I live in Japan with our three children and we love to go