Badminton Rinconada crushes Oviedo and meets, for the umpteenth time, with IES La Orden in a last round whose main novelty compared to recent years is that the corner players will play the second leg at Fernando Martín
The Rinconada Badminton Club returned to its privileges and slipped into a new final in which Antonio Molina’s men will cross paths, once again, with the IES La Orden of Pablo Abián, Telma Santos, Haidee Ojeda… life goes on the same, What Julio Iglesias would say, but there is something that has changed compared to recent years and that is that the corner players will play the second leg of the final at home, at Fernando Martín, after passing over a distinguished team, such as Badminton Oviedo, while the Huelva team defeated Arjonilla ‘only’ 5-2.
The corner team has gained strength with the arrivals of Claudia Leal and Beatriz Corrales, as well as the definitive recovery of Nerea Ivorra and the experience and heart of the captain, Laura Molina, while on the male front, Tom Wolfenden is the undisputed leader of the doubles well seconded by Jaume Pérez, while Carlos Piris and Thomas Fourcade are giving excellent performances. In addition, and as if that were not enough, there is a wardrobe to throw away if there were any setbacks.
The final will be played on April 9 and 16 in Huelva and La Rinconada, respectively. That the IES La Orden will be a bone is something that nobody doubts. In fact, it is the black beast of the corner players in recent years, but this edition is different and the Fernando Martín team has renewed hopes of achieving, a decade later, 12 + 1.
In the semifinals, although it is true that, under the protection of their fans, basically because that was how they had won it in the Regular Season, Rinconada crushed Oviedo, which is no small feat. The Asturians have earned being the alternative in northern Spain to the La Orden-Rinconada pairing, they are going to host the European Cup -in which Rinconada has a guaranteed ticket no matter what happens in the final- and they have caused some displeasure Historic for Antonio Molina’s men, like that final in which they came back from 5-2 to win 6-1 and ‘steal’ the Spanish Championship from the corner players. Last weekend there was no chance of any nasty surprises.
Club Badminton Rinconada completed an excellent match and won resoundingly. The desire was noticeable from the first Mixed Doubles match, where corner players Tom Wolfenden and Claudia Leal comfortably beat Alberto Zapico and Amaia Torralba from Oviedo (11-3, 11-9, 11-8). In the Men’s and Women’s Doubles, luck was the same for the corner players, as they both won with relative ease. First the corners Bea Corrales and Claudia Leal (11-5, 11-8, 11-10) and, later, the corners Tom Wolfenden and Jaume Pérez in a vibrant match, where they reached the fifth set (11-9, 7 -11, 11-6, 10-11, 11-6).
In the Men’s and Women’s Individual duels number 2, the corners would need only one victory to confirm the pass to the next round. Far from settling for that, the cornerers won both duels. Bea Corrales beat Kristina Sotomayor (10-11, 11-5, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9), while Thomas Fourcade gave Javier Suárez no chance (11-5, 11-8, 11-8 ).
With everything already decided, the corner players wanted to get at least one more point to ensure the home court factor, since they were aware that IES La Orden had left two points on the way. To put the finishing touch, both Nerea Ivorra and Carlos Piris managed to beat their rivals. The corner beat Laura Álvarez in three sets (11-4, 11-8, 11-8), while Piris won the victory in four sets (11-10. 11-7, 9-11, 11-12).
After the match, once the euphoria was unleashed by the pass to the final, Antonio Molina did not want to stop appreciating the feat of Rinconada after a new final: “it is impressive and I always say the same thing: we will value what has been achieved when we stop being in the finals regularly. For us this continues to be a brutal prize for many finals we’ve won. Winning the way we’ve done it and getting the field factor is something important for us because we know that, if we get a good result in Huelva, in house with our people anything is possible”.
