Carolina Marín is the only Spanish survivor in the European Badminton Championships held in Saarbrücken (Germany), after the defeat in the round of 16 of the women’s doubles by Paula López and Lucía Rodríguez and the elimination in the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles by Rubén García and Lucía Rodríguez. This last couple returns home with the regret of having narrowly missed the medals but also with the satisfaction of having made history, as it is the first time that a Spanish mixed duo has reached the quarterfinals of a European Championship.
Marín has continued and will continue to put the Spanish accent on German lands after defeating, this time, the Bulgarian Kaloyana Nalbantova. The Spaniard had no mercy on her rival and resolved the match 21-14 and 21-12 in 35 minutes.
The Andalusian entered the match very focused and dominated the first set without allowing the Bulgarian to even get close to her on the scoreboard. Nalbantova tried to take the initiative at the beginning of the second game, but the Spaniard soon regained control of the game and ended her hope after a resounding 9-0 run that allowed her to move towards victory.
Her next rival in Saarbrücken will be the Frenchwoman Léonice Huet, number 70 in the world ranking, although she will arrive at the clash with the advantage of having qualified without playing, due to her rival’s failure to appear. This match will be played in the fourth turn of court 1, so that It can be seen on Badminton Europe TV from 1 p.m..
This Thursday’s day was not so positive for the rest of the national volantistas, since they have already said goodbye to the competition. First of all, the women’s doubles of Paula López and Lucía Rodríguez has tried to stand up to the powerful tandem formed by the sisters Stefani and Gabriela Stoeva, who already know what it is like to climb to the top of the continental podium. The Bulgarians closed their victory by 21-15 and 21-8, beating the Spanish for the third consecutive tournament.
It couldn’t be for the mixed doubles of Rubén García and Lucía Rodríguez either, who fell fighting with everything against the experienced Danish couple made up of Kjaer and Søgaard (21-7 and 21-10). In any case, Rodríguez and García return home with the honor of having become the Spanish mixed couple to reach the quarterfinals of the Absolute European Championship. It is not in vain that we have to go back to April 2004, that is, just 20 years ago, to find such a good result in the doubles category. On that occasion the men’s doubles consisting of José Antonio Crespo and Sergio LLopis achieved fifth place.
The great role of the Rubén García-Lucía Rodríguez couple confirms the great work that is being done in the High Performance Center that the Higher Sports Council (CSD) has in Madrid, led by Arturo Ruiz, technical director of the Spanish Federation of Sports. Badminton (Fesba), who is accompanied by coach Manu Vázquez and doubles specialist Diemo Ruhnow.
2024-04-11 19:28:55
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