Madrid: The 25th European championships that will be held from Tuesday, April 26, 2016 to Sunday, May 1, 2016 in La Roche-sur-Yon, western France, will be the last tournament for the European shuttlers to clinch world ranking points before the deadline for the 2016 Rio Olympics Games qualification ends on April 30th.
Although she lost her World No. 1 ranking to Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand last week, two-time world champion Carolina Marin of Spain is still the overwhelming favorite to claim the women’s singles gold medal at the European championships.
When asked about how she coped with pressure and stress in the tournaments, she told France reporters that she knew how to adjust her game in pressure situations after so many encounters with top women’s shuttlers from Asia.
“I’ve learned how to handle pressure better. The competitive pressures I face are substantially different between European and Asian players,” said Marin.
“It’s clear the Asian players are the best because badminton is a popular sport there,” added Marin.
Winning her second European title will no doubt boost her confidence as Marin is preparing for the Rio Olympics.
“Claiming the European title is one of my goals this year, and I am looking forward to being on top of the podium,” said the ambitious Marin.
“I am desperately want to win the European championships, and that would help build up my confidence for the Olympics.”
Jan O Jorgensen, Viktor Axelsen and Marc Zwiebler are listed as the top 3 men’s singles player at the tournament, while Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov of Russian who won the 2016 All England title, have been named the top seeds in men’s doubles. It’s worth noting that Mathias Boe will partner Mathias Christiansen in France and has been ranked the men’s doubles No. 5 seeds.
