Source: Oriental Image/Zheng Hongliang
[Saba Sports News] The 2024 Spanish Badminton
Open is set to commence this week. Spanish player Carolina Marin Martin, who
was eliminated from the Super 1000 Series All England Open, had accumulated
enough points to secure a seeded position for the Paris Olympics. As a result,
she decided to take a break and did not participate in the Spanish Open.
Despite this, Marin, as the host player, displayed great sportsmanship by
bringing snacks and drinks to the stadium to show her support and condolences
to her fellow players, including Indian badminton queen Pusarla Venkata Sindhu.
To dispel any lingering conflicts, the two players posted photos of each other
on social media. The tension between Sindhu and Marin stemmed from an incident
during the women’s singles semi-finals of last year’s Danish Badminton Open.
Sindhu was supposed to retrieve a shuttlecock, but Marin intentionally picked
it up, attempting to disrupt Sindhu’s focus through such tactics. This caused
strong dissatisfaction from Sindhu, leading to a heated on-court argument
between the two players, almost escalating into a physical altercation. The
referee intervened by issuing yellow cards to both players, and they eventually
calmed down. Sindhu later expressed her hope for everyone to refrain from spreading
hatred, while Marin also conveyed a message of reconciliation after the
incident. Initially, many fans believed that this was merely a crisis
management strategy orchestrated by their teams rather than genuine
reconciliation. However, it seems that over time, the two players have indeed
become good friends following that conflict.