PARIS: Former champion Carolina Marin retired in floods of tears from her Paris Olympics badminton semi-final on Sunday after her right knee buckled in distressing scenes. The Spaniard won women’s singles gold at Rio 2016 and was on track to reach the final again but collapsed midway through the second game against China’s He Bingjiao. Coaches and He rushed to her side as she lay on the ground for several minutes, clutching her leg. The 31-year-old eventually got up and walked gingerly off the court, then resumed wearing a support. But she could barely move, losing the next two points before falling to the ground again, clearly in great pain, and sobbing uncontrollably.
With the match over, she refused the use of a wheelchair and limped out of the arena to thunderous applause from the Paris crowd, a few of whom were moved to tears by her plight. The fourth seed had won the first game 21-14 and was leading 10-6 in the second. Her coach, Fernando Rivas, told reporters that he had "no words to describe what happened”. "Carolina knows that at an Olympic Games, you win or you lose,” he said. "But not this way.” Marin was hot favourite for the title at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago until she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury just months before the event. It was her second ACL injury.
"She was in pain, it’s a sensation that she already knew,” said Rivas, suggesting she may have suffered the same serious injury again. Marin’s agonizing withdrawal drew sympathy from her fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who faces Novak Djokovic in the men’s tennis final on Sunday. "All the encouragement in the world,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez also wrote: "You are and always will be a champion. All of Spain is with you.” China’s He will play South Korean world number one An Se-young in the final.
A clearly uncomfortable He, who had hugged her distraught opponent on court, told reporters that she felt "very sad” about what happened. "She was playing perfectly well and I was very passive,” said He. "I wasn’t thinking about the final at all.” An beat Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 11-21, 21-13, 21-16 in the other semi-final.
In the men’s competition, defending champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark will play Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the final. Axelsen had to dig deep to beat India’s Lakshya Sen 22-20, 21-14 after fending off three game points in the opener.
The Dane also found himself 7-0 down at the start of the second game but came back to beat Sen, who was bidding to become India’s first men’s champion. "I could definitely feel that he was tense,” said world number two Axelsen, who led the Danish fans at La Chapelle Arena in a post-match celebration.
"I’ve been there before and I totally understand what he was going through. But it was also my chance to grab the set.” Vitidsarn, the reigning world champion, beat Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia 21-14, 21-15 in the other semi-final.
"I’ll take it step by step,” said the Thai eighth seed. "If I think about the future, I have a lot of pressure.”
Axelsen also had words of sympathy for Marin. "I just hope that I can give her a hug and some encouragement when I see her next time,” he said. — AFP