He defines himself as a player “imaginative, with feeling, with touch” and this season he is reaching the zenith of his adventure in table tennis with Asisa Borges Vall (Lleida), his club for 13 years. If recently, and after an exciting career in the Champions League, Marc Durán (1986) was left on the verge of the Euro Cup final, this week he was proclaimed champion of Spain in singles, doubles and champion of the Copa del Rey with his club. In addition, Borges Vall is still undefeated in the league.
“We did not expect it. I don’t know how long it’s been since a player won three titles in a season”, explains the player from Vilanova i la Geltrú who started playing when he was four years old thanks to his brother, ten years older, who acted as his coach. “My mother founded the club for my brother,” he says.. At the age of 11, he had to leave his family behind to stay at the Sant Cugat CAR, where he combined studies with his sport with the search for a dream that he has yet to fulfill. “I never managed to qualify for a Games. It was my wish. It is a thorn stuck. I left the Selection. It is a closed door. It was tough and they trusted others, not me.”he explains with rage but with the serenity of the passing of the years.
Incredible triplet, individual Spanish champion, doubles and king’s cup champions. Thanks to all the people who help me on a daily basis and are part of the way pic.twitter.com/6rc4d74b6v
– Marc Duran Giralt (@ marcduran86) March 10, 2022
In his training process, from 17 to 21 years old, Durán traveled to Germany to participate in the best league in the world. He first went to the small town of Frickenhausen to play in the second division. He later settled in Ochsenhausen to play in the Bundesliga. His life, now, is hooked on airports. “I train in the CAR every day. On Fridays I go to Les Borges Blanques to play, on Saturdays he traveled to Serbia, France or Sweden, because I also play those leagues. And so every weekdodge.
Durán speaks German and English, he defends himself very well in French, apart from speaking Spanish and Catalan, but he has not been able to finish his ADE studies, which he left hanging because of the dream of being a professional in a sport that is not a benchmark in Europe: “We are not a power, but we get good players. For infrastructure and media level, we are not bad. Álvaro Robles is among the top 50, for example”.
From the trip to Leverkusen to Corominas’ telephone goal
Duran’s life is not just table tennis. Also Espanyol, family heritage. “My father was from Espanyol and he took me to Sarrià when I was little. I am from 1986 and my parents went to Leverkusen. They were going to celebrate after a long trip. Nobody expected what happened”. A setback, that of losing UEFA after 3-0 in the first leg, which Durán savored with the final in Glasgow.
I also remember the player that his father called him when he was in Germany in the 90th minute of the famous Espanyol-Real Sociedad match in 2006. “We have relegated,” he told him. “Two minutes later, he called me again yelling, he had dialed Corominas,” he recalls. Although he cannot go to the stadium due to his packed schedule of matches on weekends, he acknowledges that “sometimes I go with a friend, when I can and there are promotions”. A parakeet that dominates his sport like few others and that idolizes “Tamudo, is an icon.”
