Shuttler Carolina wanted to be dancer

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

new delhi, march 29

Spain is famous for soccer, the land of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Spaniards would do anything to watch the two footballing giants in action at the revered Camp Nou stadium. One would not expect them to remotely switch their loyalty to any other sport such as Badminton which has not been able to produce a single World or Olympic champion from the country.

But, the stupendous rise of 21-year-old Carolina Marin from Huelva has changed the way badminton is being looked upon in the country as a mere fun game. Marin belongs to that rare breed of explosive and expressive badminton players who has inspired a whole lot of generation back home to take up the sport as a serious career option and dream of those never-heard-before titles —World No.1, World champion, All England champion.

Marin could not be the World No.1, but she has catapulted the game to such a level that no woman from that country has ever achieved this distinction.

She ensured badminton got a boost back home after she became the first Spaniard to win the BWF World Championship and the coveted All-England crown.

It was only a quirk of fate that Marin picked up the sport. As an eight year old, Marin didn’t know the sport existed and wanted to be a famous flamenco dancer. It was only when she wandered into a badminton court alongside one of her friends 13 years ago that she started playing. She moved away from home at the age of 14 to train and continued studying as well. She is the only child so it wasn't easy on her parents, but they came to accept the situation and must now be overjoyed that their daughter has impressively raised the profile of the game back home.

The route to success hasn't been easy for her. Marin did not have a number of compatriots to practice alongside her in Spain. There simply wasn’t that sort of pool to pick from. With limited training resources, Marin spent majority of her time training in Thailand and Indonesia so as to take her game to the next level. She also played in the Danish League last season.

“It's difficult because I don't have many practice partners. It is not like China, India or Indonesia where there are more training facilities. When I practice, it is usually with the male players,” she said. In the absence of sparring partners, Marin has to rely a lot on sports science and video analysis, a process completely different from Asia.

Marin, who made a gutsy return from an injury after winning the World Championship, said it was the most difficult phase of her playing career.

“It was difficult. First my ankle got injured, and then my shoulder. But, I had a team of lovely people around who took care of me and helped me a lot to come out of that phase,” she said.