Marin takes women’s singles crown after Yamaguchi injury
Carolina Marin wept tears of joy after she claimed her second All England title when Yamaguchi Akane was forced to quit in the second game due to injury.
Spain’s Rio 2016 Olympic champion took the opening game 26-24 and was leading the second 11-1 when Yamaguchi called it a day.
The Japanese appeared to be struggling physically in the first game and did some stretching at 13-13 having come through a marathon semi-final against reigning champion and world number one An Se-young on Saturday.
But Marin failed to capitalise as Yamaguchi won four straight points to go 17-15 in front. She thought she had taken the opener 21-17 when Marin left a shot on the baseline, but the left-hander made a successful challenge with the shuttle landing out.
Despite being warned on at least two occasions for time-wasting, Marin went on to save two more game points in what turned into a tense and thrilling passage of play.
Marin had a knee graze attended to at 24-24, and then set up her third game point before converting it.
At the start of the second game, it was clear that Yamaguchi was unable to compete due to an apparent right hip issue. She received treatment at 1-10, but abandoned after Marin won the next point.
There was a delay between Yamaguchi’s retirement and Marin, who was speaking to her coach in the mid-game interval, realising the match was over. But when she did, she sank to her knees and cried before giving her trademark shout of “Vamos!” and going over to hug her mother in the crowd.
Speaking in her post-match interview, and after expressing her wish for Yamaguchi’s speedy recovery, Marin said, “It’s been nine years but there are so many things in the past. Now I’m back.
“It means a lot. It was a really tough week. At the beginning of this week, I had a conversation with my coach because I had so many things to improve. I feel really really proud of myself because now I’m (playing) in the way that I want to do it. I just want to keep working.”
Earlier, Republic of Korea’s Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee beat Matsuyama Nami and Shida Chiharu of Japan to win the women’s doubles title.
You can watch the remaining mixed doubles and men’s doubles finals live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app (territorial restrictions may apply).
2024-03-17 14:34:00
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