Dina Abouzeid can already boast that she is a badminton champion of Spain at 41 years old. His love and passion for this sport have made him a benchmark in Vitoria, a city where he came fifteen ago for love. Despite all the inconveniences he has encountered in training, derived from the pandemic and its restrictions, he managed to go and win in Murcia, where was able to surpass two consolidated players within its master category. Sport has no age to achieve goals. The one to follows her, get her.
–She returned to competition four years ago after focusing more as a coach. Is it your greatest success as a badminton player?
-Definitely. I was competing at a high level, then I quit for eight years due to work and family circumstances and I focused as a parabadminton coach. Five years ago my friend Gustavo López – also a coach in the Spanish Federation and a member of the Bad Fly club in Jaén – signed me to play in the league and encouraged me to compete in the master category. He also encouraged me to create a club, which is why Just Badminton was born. And until today, I have obtained this gold that has a very important value for me, because I had prepared it with a lot of effort and work and surrounded by an extraordinary team of people.
– How has this preparation been marked by the pandemic?
–Well, with many obstacles. To begin with, neither the Alava nor the Basque Federation wanted me to sign the document that accredited me as a semi-professional athlete, despite competing in a championship in Spain. Added to that were the difficulties of having a training track in Vitoria. I have to thank the Estadio Foundation, which under all the sanitary protocols allowed me to prepare the championship with all the facilities, as well as the help of Josu Díaz de Alda, personal friend and physical rehabilitation of Alavés, who has sparred me with quality training, and Roberto as a physical trainer. It has been two intense months, of a lot of struggle, of many sessions. In addition to going very well physically, I have also been very strong in the head. I won in the decisive match Vanessa Serrano, my black beast, whom I had never beaten. Everything has been worth it and I only have words of thanks.
Padel selector
-In her youth stage she lived in Jordan, where her father is from, and had options of having been an Olympian. What would I have given to be a professional in this sport?
-It is true. In Jordan, he pointed. But when I was 20 I got married and all evolution was cut off and my life went another way. Then I was a mother. Perhaps, if I had been in Spain at the age of 15, and with more resources, I could have had the option of being a professional. It is difficult, because it is a very technical and sacrificial sport. That is why I admire so much Carolina Marín, Beatriz Corrales or Clara Azurmendi, who are the three references in Spain. They have had to work a lot, make the decision to go far from home to be in high-performance centers, and sacrifice many things. I would have been willing. I think it would have been worth it because it is the dream of any athlete.
“Neither Alavesa nor Vasca signed the document accrediting me as semi-professional”
– Is sport more enjoyable after 40?
–It is enjoyed, but it can also be competitive. With good physical preparation and, above all, with great enthusiasm, you can extend your sporting life as far as you intend. In this veterans championship in Murcia there was an enrollment of close to 160 people, a good number taking into account the Covid. But the level has been high, because in my category (B1-B2) there were the two best. And in the super veteran category there were people with 75 years. I want to stay on the slopes, at least, until I’m 80 (laughs).
– She is the new coach of Álava de padel. Is there a quarry in the territory?
–I have a work team with three other girls and each one of us manages the corresponding age sector. It is a teamwork. I am very excited. From the new board of directors of the Alava Padel Federation they proposed it to me and I can’t say no. I’m very excited that they remember me even though I left paddle tennis a couple of years ago to focus more on badminton. But I took level 1 as a coach and the paddle bug began to enter me again. So I hope to put all my work to help the Alava female padel. What I have perceived is that there are a lot of women who practice paddle tennis and that is already a very big advantage.
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