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Ace Marin ready to go the distance to be best-ever
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For someone who took up badminton as a hobby, Carolina Marin has come a long way to be the reigning Olympic and world champion but the Spaniard yearns for more as she continues her journey toward becoming the best-ever in the sport.
In August, Marin became the first woman player to win three world championship titles when she beat India’s Pusarla Sindhu in Nanjing to add to her gold medals from 2014 and 2015.
China’s Lin Dan has won two Olympic men’s singles gold medals and five world championship crowns and is widely considered the greatest shuttler.
“Well I would like to be the best player in the history of badminton,” Marin said in an interview. “It’s very easy to say but I know it’s going to be really, really difficult. I am ready to do anything to get that. I would like to win one more Olympic Games and minimum two more world championships.”
Dubbed the Rafa Nadal of badminton in Spain for her tenacity and fierce left-handed game, Marin ended Asia’s hegemony at the Olympics when she beat Sindhu in the Rio 2016 final.
Her win secured Europe a first title in 20 years and only its second since the sport’s 1992 debut at the Games — something Marin could have never imagined when she started playing.
“Badminton is not much popular in Spain. I just played badminton like a hobby, I didn’t think too much about becoming a world champion,” said the 25-year old, who represents Pune 7 Aces in the ongoing Premier Badminton League in India.
“When I moved to the national center as a 14-year-old, then I started to think about what I would like to be... a badminton player, I just wanted to be the best in the world.
“Maybe I cannot explain in words, it’s impossible to explain. I had to put in so much effort to make my dream come true... I had to make so many sacrifices. It was really, really difficult.”
Since her Rio gold, Marin has been dogged by injuries, the latest being a niggle in her right leg which kept her out of this month’s BWF World Tour Finals in Guangzhou.
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