Tag: Carolina

Featured

Carolina Marin

Two titles in two weeks – Marin is riding a fabulous hot streak – will she stay fit enough to challenge for a podium place at the Olympics this summer? The danger that she poses to the Fab Four is real.

The winning moment.
Photo by kind permission of Rachel Drew.

After her recent All England victory CAI Yun analysed some elements of her game and compared her to rivals. He pointed out that as a three-time winner of the World Championships and the current Olympic champion she has nothing to prove at the big tournaments. This can liberate her from the pressure that many top athletes suffer and allow her to play freely.

Spain has world-class tennis players but no big tradition in badminton. Her incredible career achievements put her at the centre of the world of Women’s Singles, but she has often been culturally a little on the fringes. Her partnership with coach Fernando Rivas is key because they were both outsiders – unrestricted by convention- who were open to using new methods to achieve success.

Fitness will play a pivotal role in the outcome of the Women’s Singles tournament in Paris. Her main rivals for Olympic medals are all battling injuries. Akane has just returned to competition, TTY mentioned hamstring problems, AN Se Young’s knee is a bit dodgy, and CHEN YuFei has persistent soreness. Who can maintain their physical condition to vie for Olympic glory? Carolina has recovered successfully from two career-threatening ACL injuries and possesses the emotional strength to move on. Tribute must be paid to the team behind her, who keep her motivated through dark days and the gym grind.

I am always fascinated by her behaviour on court. CAI Yun mentioned this too. She has mastered the art of PsyOps and has been allowed by the badminton establishment to push the boundaries of conduct towards her opponent. She can be quite intimidating; if she were a lawyer, I would want her on my defence team.

Everyone knows about her slightly unnerving shouts but there are other tactics that can disrupt the momentum of a match. Toweling down, and requests for court mopping are completely legitimate in my opinion but there is an undefined point where it becomes ‘too much.’  That is the crux of this – if no one is prepared to say what is too much then why criticize a player who has added it to their armour?

The shuttle is another weapon that Marin uses. It is never ‘out of play’ even if the point has concluded. Often it is not returned directly to an opponent but flicked away off to the side. Just small things that stall the progress of a match can become immensely powerful.

Marin stands poised on the brink of history. She has the mental resilience to surge past everyone and cement her legacy as one of the all-time badminton greats.

Thank you to Rene Biaoli (of https://badmintoniacs.wordpress.com) for kindly translating CAI Yun’s thoughts about Marin’s recent All England win. Thank you to Rachel Drew for allowing me to use her photo of Carolina.

©2024

Amanda Bloss All Rights Reserved

Nozomi v Carolina at the Danisa Denmark Open Finals

Wow – we were treated to a dazzling match for the WS title at the Denmark Open this evening.   

“I’m happy! Long time no see for a title! Compared to other opponents, Marin is faster and has a harder attack. I was focussed on defence and footwork, and my feet moved very well today. Overall the match went well for me.” – Nozomi Okuhara via BWF media service

This was set up to be a thriller right from the start: Carolina V Nozomi is Attack v Defence and Noise v Calm.  A nail-biting encounter was in prospect, a match to showcase all that is wonderful about this generation of Women players.  Both have been World #1, and both were Olympic medallists in Rio.  Outstanding quality that has been waiting months to get on a court.

In many ways this tournament has been an opportunity for both players to push the reset button.  Carolina successfully returned from her cruciate ligament injury but has suffered some personal tragedy over the past months.  Nozomi had a bittersweet 2019 where she gave consistently high-quality performances but was not able to close out championship matches; she ended up with too many silver medals.

Okuhara’s path to the final – consistent straight set wins in every round – suggested she was on a mission.  Marin’s progress was no less impressive: Bei Wen ZHANG took a set off her in their Quarter Final but the Spaniard has such high fitness that it would not have dented her energy levels.   

Set 1 Carolina Wins The Toss

Right from the start it was clear that these two competitors emphatically did not spend lockdown watching tv from their sofa.  Fabulous, high tempo badminton with both players giving everything for every point.  Okuhara was in great form.  The Japanese player was using her big defensive clears to put Marin under huge pressure.  Of course, her game was far more nuanced than this.  Her court coverage was superhuman, her snappy reflexes and great technique meant that although she wasn’t hitting outright winners her strategy was getting points on the board.  Marin was hitting good shots but was being frustrated over and over again.  Although she won the toss, and chose the ‘best’ end Carolina lost the first set 21-19.

Set 2 Silver or Gold?

Both players continued to push each other to play sparkling badminton.  The tension was growing.  Carolina had to get back into the game and she knew the pattern in 2019 from Nozomi was silver, silver, silver.  What could be done?  At 4-3 there was an exchange between the two of them which highlighted Okuhara’s hunger and desire.  An exchange over the net, superb anticipation and a venomous reply taking the score to 5-3.  The BWF commentary team pointed out that Marin was not her usual self between points, she was not hustling the pace along as normal.  Did she have a worry about her stamina after so many months away from the tour? Nozomi continued to screw down the pressure and Marin was becoming more exasperated.  Whatever she threw at her rival was coming back at her.  Her only options seemed to be to try and go for the margins but this high risk strategy gave rise to more lost points.  The title was moving out of her grasp until we came to 20-15 to Okuhara.  Match points.  Danger zone for both players.  16-20 one point saved with a savage smash; 17-20 another point saved after a long rally. Then Nozomi launched an attacked on Carolina’s backhand, moving her forward and back until it culminated in a title winning smash. Game!

A magnificent encounter that highlighted everything to love about women’s singles.  Two brilliant players who went all-out for the title.  Congratulations to Nozomi and commiserations to Carolina. What a time to follow women’s badminton!

If you enjoyed this take a look at my recent article about Nozomi https://womensbadminton.co.uk/2020/05/15/nozomi-okuhara/

Thank you to all the players, officials and volunteers whose hard work has enabled this tournament to proceed.

©2024

Amanda Bloss All Rights Reserved