‘Insist, persist, resist, never give up’, with that motto Nacho Fernández faces every battle in his life. No matter the obstacles or how many times he falls, he never gives up. He has been doing it since he was 11 years old when they had to amputate his left leg after suffering an accident. Sport has been the beacon that has guided his path, first as an ultrarunner and soccer player on crutches, and now as a wheelchair volantista. The Galician has just won a bronze in the World Cup, thus ending a drought of more than a decade without medals for Spanish badminton in this competition.
He started hitting the light goose feather shuttlecock less than four years ago in the shelter of the Club Athlos de Ourense. He came from scoring goals with the Spanish soccer team for amputees, with which he resumed his passion for the ball a few years after losing his leg. “I had a bad time, when they gave me the news, many thoughts came to your head, I had to stop playing sports, running or walking, I was sunk and I didn’t even feel like eating,” he confesses. A trip to Barcelona in 2006 thanks to the Andrea Foundation brought back his smile when he fulfilled a dream, meeting his idol, the Brazilian Ronaldinho.
That gave him wings to play football again. “He did it with his friends as a goalkeeper, but in the wheelchair, and since he took up a lot, he stopped a lot -he laughs-. Then, with crutches, he drove the ball and dribbled, I was good at it. One day they called me to do some tests at the Sant Cugat CAR and that’s how I started with the Spanish team, with which I played the World Cup in Mexico in 2018, in which we reached the quarterfinals, it was a brutal experience, “he says.
However, that year he tried badminton at his hometown club and was spellbound. “This sport caught me, it is something magical and I really enjoy it. At first I practiced it in a conventional chair and little by little I improved until I became the champion of Spain, competed at an international level and qualified for a World Cup”, he emphasizes. This course debuted his record with a bronze at the Vitoria Open and a gold at the Irish Open, results that earned him a place in the WH2 category for the world championship in Tokyo.
In singles and men’s doubles he had no luck, but fortune did smile on him in mixed doubles along with the Austrian Henriett Koosz by sneaking onto the podium with a bronze. “This medal represents a very important personal achievement given that at the end of last season I had not quite found myself with badminton, I had gone through a stage in which I did not enjoy it, I was going to train with little motivation and the training sessions did not go well, considering leaving this sport since the psychological could a lot. But it is my passion, despite the hard times I always continued without giving in, things were improving and I resumed training at the Galician Center for Sports Modernization (CGTD) with great enthusiasm, ”she says.
The competition at Yoyogi Stadium did not start well as the Spanish-Austrian duo lost 13-21, 21-19 and 17-21 against Paco Motero from Huelva and Narin Uluc from Turkey. In the next two matches they made up for it with wins against the British Owen Kilburn and Sharon Jones-Barnes (21-10 and 21-5) and the Canadians Mikhail Bilenki and Yuka Chokyu (21-7 and 21-9). In the quarterfinals they beat Indians Shashank Kumar and Ammu Mohan 21-15 and 21-5 to secure the bronze. In the semifinals they fell to the South Koreans Choi Jungman and Lee Sun Ae (9-21 and 12-21).
“A world bronze gives me a lot of encouragement and puts me back in the bug so necessary in sports, after a difficult streak it makes you feel strong again and enjoy what you like. I dedicate this triumph to my parents for instilling in me the values of perseverance, work, and struggle among many others that lead me to be here. Also to Club Atlhos this would not have been possible without their support, to the Galician and Spanish federations, to Núria Fernández, Rafa Vázquez, Manu Brea, to the club’s players and to all the people who have encouraged me at some point”, he adds.
Nacho Fernández’s is the seventh Spanish medal in world championships: Alfonso Otero was bronze in 2005 in Taiwan, Vicente Henares silver in 2007 in Bangkok (Thailand), Guillermo Lama bronze in 2009 in Seoul (Korea) and in 2011 in Guatemala Simón Cruz was silver, while Juan Antonio Ramírez and Sofía Balsalobre won a bronze. The Asturian player begins the journey to the Paralympic Games in Paris 2024 with enthusiasm, his great goal: “We are looking for the best possible position in the ranking -now it is number 16- for next year where that long-distance race is already beginning and the championships begin to score for that complicated dream, although we will leave every drop of sweat for a possible classification”.
Very close to the podium was Paco Motero in mixed doubles. The Andalusian, teaming up with the Ottoman Narin Uluc, went through as first group with three victories, but in the quarterfinals he ran into the Italian Yuri Ferrigno and the Peruvian Pilar Jauregui (15-21 and 13-21). “The World Cup, in terms of results, has not been good. I expected to get into the quarterfinals in singles, I didn’t make it in men’s doubles either and in mixed doubles I was on the verge of medals, so I have to be positive, I’m on the right track. Next year will be nice with many tournaments, also super hard because it is a pre-Olympic year, there will be no easy test, so we will have to keep working”, he explains.
For her part, Cristina Sánchez de Lechina reached the quarterfinals in her debut in the SU5 category (disability in the upper extremities), she beat the Zambian Josephine Zulu (21-14 and 21-12), but she could do nothing against the Danish Cathrine Rosengren (6-21 and 6-21). And Iván Segura, also from Granada, 17, was eliminated in the group stage in the SH6 category (athletes of short stature) and in mixed doubles. The course will end this month with the Peru International and from 2023 the points counter will start towards Paris 2024.
