September 2010, Koukal had just completed the Bitburger Open, returning home to the Czech Republic having swept nearly all before him to reach the semi-finals, including the number 3 seed and world number 16 Rajiv Ouseph on the way. Little over a fortnight later, during a routine check-up with his doctor, came the devastating diagnosis of cancer.
Fast forward three months to December and Koukal was able to reveal to the world that he had been give the all clear after three cycles of chemotherapy, 'It was very hard experience,' admitted the philosophical shuttler, 'but I believe that it will only make me stronger and tougher.'
After just two months training Koukal returned to the court to defend his mantle as Czech national champion. It was never in doubt. The final in Prerov pitted the four time defending champ against Tomas Kopriva with an opportunity to complete a fairytale return to the court, the 25 year old duly obliging to claim his fifth consecutive national title.
Numerous small tournaments later and with a world ranking hovering around the late 60's came the next step in Koukal's recovery, a chance to take to the world stage again for the Sudirman cup in Qingdao, China. Playing in the third tier of the tournament the Czech's ended as runners-up in their group, Koukal winning two of his three matches before his team were forced to pull out, handing the Vietnamese a walkover and 23rd place.
Following all the positivity from his recovery there was still one other major tournament for Koukal to try his hand at before the year was out, the 2011 World Championships in London. Unfortunately for the Czech it didn't go quite to plan as he was on the wrong end of a 21-5 21-8 thrashing, Ukrainian Dmytro Zavadsky his conqueror. It was difficult to hide the disappointment after such a harrowing defeat but when you've come so far in such a short time you can't let go of your self belief, and there was never any doubt that Koukal was going to continue.
Onto Slovakia, then. Without dropping a game the big Czech made it to the final to face left-handed Pole Hubert Paczek, ranked 316 by the BWF. Koukal opened the match with five straight points, his lead extended to seven at the mid-game interval thanks to a flurry of powerful attacking strokes. Paczek pulled back a couple of points but in the end it was academic as his opponent took the first game by a 10 point margin, winning 21-11 on the first of his nine game points.
Though the second game saw a far more purposeful display from the Pole it was Koukal who stormed to a 21-15 victory in the second game, buoyed by the support of the horn-blowing crowd, the Czech fourth seed's all round game proving too strong for Paczek to deal with.
"You know I was so disappointed after a poor performance at the worlds in London that I decided to come here to Slovakia to try and get some wins under my belt." Said the bubbly Koukal after his victory. "But now it’s clear to me that actually London was meant to be and I was supposed to come here and win this tournament and really it’s a great feeling to win again."
To stand in the face of cancer and come out the other end as mentally tough as ever is a testament to the mindset of Koukal who never once showed that his illness was getting the better of him. Where others may have folded it shows that the physical abilities of this extraordinary athlete are not the only attributes that make him a world class sportsman, but the way he dealt with the psychological ramifications of facing his toughest opponent to date.
It is nearly a year after the soul destroying diagnosis for Koukal who has never once thrown in the towel when faced with a life-threatening adversary and now, less than twelve months after waiting for a totally different set of results, the strong willed shuttler is now eagerly anticipating Thursday's release of the latest world ranking tables. The push has begun for Koukal as he looks to force his career back to where it stood before, if he continues in the same vain it won't be long before he achieves his goal in a quite remarkable manner.
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