After sentencing his latest badminton feat at the Tokyo Games with a fierce smash, Kevin Cordon threw himself back to the surface and covered his face with his hands.
In a tournament in which surprises have been the keynote, the 34-year-old Guatemalan and current number 59 in the world rankings starred in something unprecedented on Saturday by becoming the first Latin American to access the semifinals of Olympic badminton.
Cordón scored a resounding 21-13, 21-18 victory over South Korean Heo Kwanghee. He cleared the process in 42 minutes.
“I am still like a child, playing like a child, having fun, trying to do my best,” said Cordón.
His opponent in the semifinals will be the Danish Viktor Axelsen and a new victory would secure a medal for Cordón. Fourth-seeded Axelsen beat Chinese Yu Qi Shi 21-13, 21-13.
Surprises have abounded this week at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza headquarters, something that is attributed to the special circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kwanghee, for example, defeated Japanese Kento Momota, current world number one, in the round of 16.
Against all odds, Cordón is on the verge of giving Guatemala the second Olympic medal in its history and the first since the silver of the marcher Erick Barrondo in London 2012.
“Right now I’m not thinking of a medal,” Cordón said. “If you think that you are so close you get stressed and you cannot play calmly and with the intention of having fun.”
“Can you believe that I am in the semifinals? This feeling is wonderful, ”said Cordón.
Cordón left Guatemala when he was 12 years old to enter a sport of mass participation in Asia, but that in Latin America goes unnoticed.
Like almost all children in Guatemala, Cordón grew up playing soccer. In fact, his father named him after Kevin Keegan, the English forward who shone in the 1970s and ’80s.
But he ended up becoming interested in badminton and, thanks to a sports scholarship, he gave himself completely to the discipline.
“Badminton is Guatemala is not close to soccer. But I don’t think about it, ”he said. “If you compare Guatemala in badminton with any other country in Europe or Asia, it is not the same. Thats the reality. But we have one thing in common. We are the same when you play with your heart ”.
They asked him if his outstanding campaign in Tokyo 2020 has garnered attention in Guatemala.
“Of course”.
But he is “completely sure” that his parents are not watching his games.
“They are very old. They have never seen me play in my entire career, “he said. “It’s not because they don’t love me, it’s that they get very nervous. When it’s my turn to play, my brother watches the game and gives them the result: ‘Kevin won or Kevin lost.’
