Carolina Marín retains badminton European Championship title after victory against the UK's Kirsty Gilmour
Carolina Marín retains badminton European Championship title after victory against the UK's Kirsty Gilmour
TWICE-WORLD champion badminton star Carolina Marín has successfully defended her European title after beating Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour 21-12 and 21-18, seeded second in the La Roche-sur-Yon tournament yesterday (Sunday).
World number two Carolina, from the southern-Spanish province of Huelva, was favourite to win with four victories out of five matches against Ms Gilmour, ranked 21st.
But the first set was a breeze for the Spaniard, who successively widened the gap with her rival from 4-4 onwards until she scooped up an easy 21-12 victory in just 16 minutes.
Set two started in the same vein, although was a little more challenging for Carolina who shot ahead on 5-1 but quickly found Kirsty on her tail on 5-0.
Carolina had to concentrate as hard as she could to fend off her British rival's responses, as Kirsty benefited from two-point advantages.
Sra Marín recovered in time to end the set on 21-18 after 43 minutes – in total, less than an hour's work stood between her and the gold medal.
The European Championship final was the match which earned Carolina her global success two years ago in Kazan, Russia, when she netted the gold.
She has since successfully put badminton on the world sporting map and given Spain an excellent global reputation for its prowess in the field.
