Huelva: The reigning Olympic Champion, Carolina Marin of Spain suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus on her left knee during practice last Friday, and has decided to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics.
The World No. 4 player from Spain, who has been in top form this year, winning both the Yonex and Toyota Thailand Open in January of 2021 and also the 2021 Swiss Open in March. After obtaining the medical examination results and advice from doctors, the Spanish Badminton Federation has confirmed that Marin will not be defending her crown in the Tokyo Olympics.
Marin remained upbeat despite the bad news and posted the message below to update her fans about the injury and also to thank her fans for their support.
“After the examinations during the weekend and the medical consultation, I confirm that I have torn the ACL and both meniscus on my left knee. I will undergo surgery this week and start my recovery.”
“I want to thank everyone for their support and messages during these days. This is another blow that I must face, but have no doubt that I will be back. Although the preparation in the last two months had become very difficult, the effort we gave was enormous and we knew that we were going to arrive in the best possible form at the Olympic Games. That will not be possible. I know I’m in the best hands and I have a lot of people by my side, said the player.”
🐺💙#PuedoPorquePiensoQuePuedo pic.twitter.com/jxq21hhXgR
— Carolina Marín (@CarolinaMarin) June 1, 2021
Meanwhile, Marin’s coach, Fernando Rivas, also expressed concern over the Olympic Champion’s injury.
“Despite the difficulties that had arisen in the preparation of the last two months, we had managed to recover, as we have always done. It’s very unfair to her because her path since the injury in 2019 has been practically heroic. She’s going to be surrounded by her whole team at all times and we’ll do whatever she needs to get her back to the level she was at,” said Rivas.
Marin ruptured the ACL at her right knee during the final of the Indonesian Masters against Saina Nehwal of India in January 2019. After 228 days or 34 weeks since sustaining the injury in Indonesia, she showed a powerful competitive spirit and launched a remarkable comeback by winning the 2019 China Open Super 1000 event on September 22, 2019.
The 27-year-old Marin is undoubtedly the most successful women’s singles badminton player in the last seven years and is the heavy favorite to win gold in Tokyo Olympics. While people in Spain are crazy about football – 2010 World Cup Champions, tennis – Rafael Nadal, and basketball – several NBA players, and even though badminton is a very small sport in Spain, Marin was able to produce a lot of remarkable results even athletes from China, Malaysia, Korea, Indonesia, Denmark couldn’t achieve (badminton is an extremely popular sport in these countries).
She became the only women’s singles player to win three World Championships gold medals (2014, 2015, 2018), and five consecutive European Championships golds (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021).
Marin’s loud screams after each point were a stark contrast to the quiet and undemonstrative emotion shown by other women’s singles players. Her signature aggressive play always made her the most difficult opponent to play against. It’s very unfortunate to see her injured her left ACL, especially with only 52 days left to the Tokyo Olympics. Nevertheless, BadmintonPlanet.com would like to wish Marin a speedy recovery, and we hope to see her back in action again as soon as possible.
