The elite of senior national badminton has gathered this weekend in Santander to play another test of the National Circuit, with 6th in the category. A great opportunity to score points and prepare for the World Championship to be held in Huelva in December. This has meant that the participation has been very high, about 200 players, and the level very high. The four representatives of the Albacete Badminton Club traveled with two clear objectives. Cristina Lamas and Miguel Serrano in order to stay within the top two positions of the national ranking that they currently occupy; Laura Quereda and Paco Castilla in order to get up positions within it. Considering the results, the two objectives were more than met.
Cristina had the difficult task of maintaining her No. 1 in individual, in the presence of high-level players who until now had participated less and therefore with a lower ranking than her. Above all, the presence of the Galician Teresa Vázquez offered a plus to the competition. The draw resulted in both being in the same group thus offering the possibility of an early final. Cristina managed to develop one of her best matches in a long time and not only stood up but also dominated the game completely, taking an easier victory than expected. Once in the main draw and after a more comfortable semifinal, both players met again in the final. Again Cristina managed to display a great game and win the first set, in the second the Galician player suffered an injury that forced her to withdraw from the match, thus proclaiming Cristina champion of the tournament. In the other modality in which he participated, where he is also No. 1 in the national ranking, the mixed doubles together with his inseparable Miguel Ángel Polo (Drop Toledo), also stood out. A really complicated group phase that was decided in the match with England’s Clark-Stewart and that gave them second place in the group by losing in the third set by a tight 25-23. Again two comfortable matches in the main draw to access the final and meet the English couple again. This time the game was less even and they had to settle for the runner-up.
Miguel Serrano came to Santander as No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles. The singles competition went as planned, winning all three of their group stage matches on Saturday in relative comfort. On Sunday he played the semifinals against Isidre Sistaré, one of his pursuers in the ranking, winning comfortably and thus reaching the goal of the final. Here Kole Odofín (Bianconero) awaited him, whom he had beaten the day before in the group by a comfortable 2-0. However, significant discomfort in his right shoulder prevented him from performing at his level and he had to give up the game and settle for second place. He suffered the same situation in the men’s doubles modality with his partner Gary Clark (San Fernando Valencia). In the semifinals against Del Cueto-Martín it was where the right shoulder began to not work and the game could not be saved.
Laura Quereda gave us an important surprise and took first place in the group stage. Triple tie in his although by number of set and points they happened to the table like first. That was already a good result but they still had two match points in the semifinals to reach their first final in a championship of this importance. Possibly nerves prevented them from getting those two points and their rivals Valdivia-Torres (Torrelavega) knew how to take advantage of the opportunity to take the victory. Good evolution also in women’s doubles although without victory.
Paco Castilla participated only in the individual modality, but in a very high-level category. One win and two losses knocked him out of the main draw.
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