MADRID, 15 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish badminton player Carolina Marín submitted (21-17, 21-15) this Friday to the Chinese Chen Yu Fei, current Olympic champion, to reach the semifinals of the prestigious All England.
Marín flew into the Utilita Arena in Birmingham to knock down the world number two. A duel between the last two Olympic champions, the quarterfinal clash was left to the Spanish, gold in Rio 2016, to meet the Taiwanese Tai Tzu-Ying, her executioner in the BWF World Tour Finals.
The Huelva native, back in a top-level tournament almost three months after that last event in 2023 where she lost in the final, had a very intense first set, an exchange. Marín showed a point more legs, very agile throughout the court, and a well-studied strategy to seek to tickle his tough rival.
The Spaniard took the lead in the decisive points and signed a partial victory with authority (21-17). The champion in Tokyo 2020 collapsed at times and Marín saw the moment to push and escape on the scoreboard (8-1), but the Chinese also showed her quality to push the score against the ropes (10-9).
The three-time world champion and six-time European champion proved to be in a great moment of play to, after a 12-12, once again get points of greatness and winning mentality. Marín, number five in the world, regained the lead (16-13) and did not miss a prestigious victory on the fast track in search of another final at the All England, like the one she won in 2015.