On Saturday it was played on the island of Ibiza the Top-10 Badminton match day 9, which faced UD Ibiza Pitiús and CB Alicante, in a direct duel. Despite the fact that the people from Alicante were about to surprise at home, they ended up losing 4-3, which makes it impossible to directly stay in the category and qualifies them for the play-off to fight for it with one game to go.
The meeting began with the mixed doubles, in which they measured Miguel Esteve and Ana Caballero to Marc Cardona and Paula López. The young people from Alicante fought against one of the most established couples in the league, but lost 11-11-4/11-9/11-6. On the other hand, the men’s doubles faced Alberto Perals and José Luis Martín with Vicent Martínez and Álvaro Vázquez. This was the closest match of the day, and despite the fact that our players had options to take the match against an experienced couple, they lost in five sets by 5-11/11-10/11-10/4-11/11 -9. The women’s doubles was not played due to non-alignment of the Balearic team with Helena Sánchez and Ana Ramírez on the Alicante side, giving the point to the visiting team.
With the score 2-1, 2 singles were played. In the women’s, Ana Caballero played against Paula López. Our player gave everything on the court despite not feeling entirely comfortable with the Spanish international doubles player, but she gave in 6-11 / 11-8 / 11-6 / 11-7. On the other hand, Miguel Esteve faced Álvaro Vázquez. The man from Alicante did not give up against one of the best players in the country, and put his rival on the ropes with a solid game, but the experience of the Ibizan prevailed 11-7/11-9/9-11/11-7. The match ended with the singles 1. In the women’s, Ana Ramírez did the same against Paula Llavero. The woman from Alicante, despite the atypical situation of the match because it was not played in Mexico City, pulled hard to stop the young Ibizan and won by 8-11/11-9/4-11/10-11. In the men’s, Alberto Perals played against Marc Cardona. In a game of intense points where both players showed off their offensive gamethe man from Alicante managed to take the match by 9-11/11-8/9-11/9-11.
Global score of 4-3 where the CB Alicante players showed a good level against quality rivals but where they lacked closing the matches. Ana Ramírez commented that “it has been a shame not to have been able to close the match because we believe that we have had real chances of achieving victory. However, and although third place in the group is mathematically impossible, we will continue training, first with a view to the last day where we will try to give the surprise in Seville and then in the play-off where we hope to give our best level to achieve the goal of the permanence.”
