After the pandemic cast a dark shadow over Badminton Oviedo, the club watched with a half smile as the sun’s rays made their way through the clouds. He has recovered most of the inferior players lost during the confinement and, while he counts the days to return to the Corredoria Arena, from which he had to leave for works, he reassembles his squad with the aim of competing again for the Division title of Honor, a cup that he has already won twice. The long-awaited return of the Ukrainian Kristina Dzhanhobekova, Kristina Sotomayor since her marriage, and the projection of the young Laura Álvarez are two of the reasons for optimism.
Laura Álvarez, a 17-year-old from Oviedo from the Ventanielles neighborhood, perfectly illustrates the work that the CBO does. She “she went through all the categories, from a sports school to the club, and when she saw that she had different abilities than the others, she joined a technical group. He entered the national team, played in the First National team and finally in the Division of Honor, ”says the club’s technical director, César González.
She explains that she started by following the example of her brother Adrián, a year older and a member of the First National team. “I think it’s a sport that not many people practice but that is very nice and there is a very good atmosphere in the club,” emphasizes the player, who is devoted to badminton. She trains six days a week, about three hours a day. “I rest on Sundays, that is if I don’t have a competition”, she specifies.
Despite his youth, he already has good memories with Badminton Oviedo, although none like the victory in the Iberdrola Cup. “It was the first year I played it and I was the youngest, I was 15 years old and I hadn’t talked much with the elders, but the atmosphere was great,” highlights the woman from Oviedo, who finally reached the Division of Honor last season. “The truth is that I wanted to be on that team since I was in badminton and I saw them play”, confesses Laura, who won half of the points she had in dispute. The course was complicated: Laura admits that they got “a little nervous” about being able to go down, but the situation was resolved.
Although she loves coaching defense, the CBO’s young pearl is all about offense. Precisely her biggest problem was that she played like a runaway colt. César González recalls that “her turning point was a Spanish Cadet Championship in which she faced a player in the first round that she had to win 99.9% of the time. She lost the first set 21-19 and we went to tell her that she had made 19 unforced errors. She was not even aware”.
“My head turned around, I was shocked,” says Laura, who lost the second 21-8 and went home. Since then, she works to curb her impatience. How does she do it? “Looking at the flyer and saying ‘I’m not going to attack him,’ even though she’s costing me mine,” she says with an infectious smile. “He has improved a lot in the last two years”, confirms César González. She matures by leaps and bounds without ceasing to admire Alberto Zapico, passing through all the lower categories, like her: “Zapi is a lot of Zapi.”
The Iberdrola Cup will be played in Oviedo
The Iberdrola Cup for badminton clubs will be the first major event to be hosted by the refurbished Corredoria Arena, between September 30 and October 2. The Spanish Federation awarded the competition to the Asturian club, with experience in organizing sporting events. The Iberdrola Cup, in which 16 women’s teams participate, has already been won by the CBO twice, in 2019 and 2021. “I am very proud of the players, who will be able to show what a great team they are at home and will fight for get on the podium”, says César González.
