And then there were two. Summit clashes are never easy. Two competitors having given it their all to get there know they are at the last hurdle and the most important job of all is left – finishing off your last opponent. This is last chance saloon and two gunslingers will go toe to toe.
When Pusarla Venkata Sindhu takes to the field against Carolina Marin in the final of the Olympic badminton women's singles at 6.55 PM IST on Friday, their match-up will be historic in more ways than one. For it will be the first time since Atlanta 1996 that a non-Chinese woman will claim the gold.
Both Marin and Sindhu, along with Sindhu’s compatriot, Saina Nehwal, have been successful that way. They have fought against the sheer superiority imposed by China on the woman’s game; in fact all the finalists in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 were Chinese.
While Sindhu had vanquished London silver medallist Wang Yihan in straight sets in the quarter-final, Marin had comfortably beaten golden girl Li Xuerui in the semi-final, although Xuerui appeared to be injured towards the end.
Marin's meteoric rise
Until the true advent of badminton as a global spectator sport in the 1990s, the women's version was largely restricted to Asian nations, especially the likes of China, Japan and Indonesia who won buckets of medals in tourneys. It was highly unusual to see an European woman do well in the sport.
But Marin has obliterated any mark that her European predecessors had set for her. She created history by becoming the first Spanish woman to become World No. 1, highly difficult when you consider there are only about 7,000 players in Spain playing the game at all levels.
By comparison, the next highest ranked Spanish woman, Beatriz Corrales, is No. 44 in the world. Marin is truly without peers when it comes to woman shuttlers from Europe.
Her coach Fernando Rivas says that what Marin lacks by way of sparring partners or competition back home, she makes up for by using sports science, tactical, and video analysis. Her meteoric rise to the top certainly proves the effectiveness of the approach.
Early years and breakthrough
Marin showed great promise early, when she won the European Junior Championships and grabbed a bronze in the 2011 World Junior Championships at the age of 18, an event also featuring a 16-year old Sindhu and eventual champion, Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.
Two years later, Marin broke into the top 20 of the women’s rankings after losing an epic battle with Intanon in the quarter-final of the World Championships. Intanon went on to win the tournament that year.
The following year was Marin’s, however. After defeating Sindhu in the semis, she would go on to become World Champion at the age of 21, defeating the World No. 1 at that time, Li Xuerui, in a marathon three-set final.
On that occasion, Sindhu had reached the finals after defeating a string of higher-ranked opponents, only to fall to Marin. At 21, Marin had become the youngest World Champion from Europe.
Nine months later, recovering from a game down to Nehwal, she went on to level the match and then dismantle the Indian 21-7 in the third set of the final of the prestigious All England championships, her first Superseries Premier title in her first Superseries final.
At the 2015 World Championships, she successfully defended her title, this time starting out as the No. 1 seed and defeating the No. 2 Nehwal in straight sets in the final. She dethroned Nehwal as World No. 1 in October 2015, and has held the ranking for 43 weeks straight going into the Olympic final.
Game play style
Marin has an unusual style on court, a mixture of finesse and brashness, the latter coming through her on-field demeanour. Her play is especially effective in longer matches, against tiring or jaded opponents. The longer the game goes on, the more its suits Marin, which is something Sindhu will have to be wary of.
Marin, 5'-8'', and Sindhu, 5'-10", are both excellent retrievers on court and this could be a battle of who lasts longer. Marin does not have the range of smashes that Sindhu possesses but she does have something in her arsenal which can be very handy.
Nehwal discovered this first-hand at the All England final, where Marin showed her delicate net play with exquisite flicks and drops, totally bamboozling the Indian to the extent where the Indian was no longer able to match Marin’s pace.
The Spaniard does not just rely on her net play, though, and uses it as a finishing move rather than overdoing it. In fact, she makes her opponent run all around the court, dropping the hammer at the net at the most crucial points.
The fact that she is one of the few left-handers in the game will add an interesting twist to this encounter. Playing against Marin is a mentally daunting aspect too, as the Spanish southpaw likes to scream and gesture during points, adding to the physical intensity that she brings to the court.
Simply put, Marin is the most difficult player to be up against on the circuit right now. She is lightning fast in her coverage of the court and her defensive skills make her a very daunting opponent.
Sindhu did hit upon the right combination in the 2015 Denmark Open Series semi-final, when she limited Marin’s movement at the net and made life difficult for the Spaniard who was unable to retrieve her smashes in a 74-minute three set thriller.
They have faced off one more time since then. A month after that loss, Marin outclassed Sindhu at the Hong Kong Open Super Series, winning 21-17, 21-9.
But in the final, Sindhu, with her sequence of victories, isn't far from Marin, who holds the edge 4-3 in head-to-head contests. The Indian has ripped the form book to shreds and has made a mockery of predictions in Rio.
She is a runaway train at the moment, going full steam ahead, and will prove very difficult to stop. In the end, it will be a matter of who outthinks the other on court. And, make no mistake, there will be serious mind games on Friday in Rio.
