Spanish badminton has started its journey on the right foot at the India Open, which has been held in New Delhi since Tuesday with the participation of Carolina Marín, Bea Corrales and Clara Azurmendi. Marín was the first Spaniard to take action and she did so with a solvent victory in two sets against the Japanese Nozomi Okuhara.
The Olympic champion, three-time world champion and six-time European champion required 39 minutes to knock out the rocky Japanese player 21-13 and 21-18, with whom she always stars in high-intensity matches.
Received with a loud ovation by the Indian public, Marín quickly took the initiative to reach the halftime of the first set, with an 11-7 advantage on the scoreboard. Without slowing down, and spurred on by Okuhara’s lack of success in her shots, the Spaniard won the first set with a clear 21-13 score.
The match was tighter in the second set, when the Japanese recovered her precision and showing her excellent mobility, a hallmark that led her to be world champion in 2017, she was 13-10 ahead. However, a good final set by Marín allowed him to take the second and final set 21-18 first.
With this victory, the volante from Huelva broke the tie she had with Okuhara in their particular confrontation, and adds nine victories to eight for the Japanese.
“I think we have to keep improving. Today I found myself a little slower,” the Spaniard told EFE at the end of the game, pointing out that the midfielder slowed down the pace of play. “A difficult first round against Okuhara, we were able to overcome it, so already looking at Thursday,” she concluded.
In the next round, Marín will face the Thai Ratchanok Intanon, number six in the world, who defeated the player from Malaysia, Jin Wei Goh, in the round of 32, by two sets to nil. This will be the eleventh meeting between the two players, with four wins for the Spanish.
Debut of Clara Azurmendi and Bea Corrales
The Spanish participation continues this Wednesday with the debut of Clara Azurmendi and Bea Corrales. The woman from San Sebastian faces the number 1 in the world, Akane Yamaguchi in the individual event. In addition, the doubles that she forms with the Madrid native will also have Japanese rivals: Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota. The schedules of this second day are still to be defined.
