The Rinconada Badminton Club, After four years on the podium but without touching the gold medal, he has won the title of Spanish Women’s Club Champion, a historic milestone in the corner club that has managed to break the spell it had with the Iberdrola Cup.
The way to achieve it has not been easy, because the girls of Anthony Molina they had to overcome tough rivals, including Ravachol Pontevedra and As Neves, two favorites for the title and who succumbed to the power of the women’s team from the San José de La Rinconada team.
In the group stage, played on Saturday, Rinconada did not give their opponents from group 2 of the competition an option, as both matches, against San Fernando Valencia and Huesca, were easily resolved (4-1 against the Valencians and 5- 0 against Huesca). On the same Saturday afternoon, the quarterfinals would be played, Antoino Molina’s girls were drawn against Ravachol Pontevedra, in a very tight match that turned 3-2 thanks to María Ojeda’s victory in the single.
The semifinals of the Iberdrola Cup would be played on Sunday, a semi where Fernando Martín’s team would face the current champion, Badminton As Neves, which without being in the highest national category has a powerful youth academy and important female players. Even so, a superb Rinconada resolved the match the easy way after winning 3-0 in the first three games of the match, so Rinconada achieved its fourth final in five editions of the competition.
Everything would remain to be resolved in the grand final, in which they would face the team with the most titles in the competition, Badminton Oviedo, which has two trophies and a powerful team in the women’s section. El Rinconada, for its part, knew that the doubles section, despite the absences of Bea Corrales and Nerea Ivorra, would be key to getting the title back on track. In the first confrontation of the final, Leona Lee and Laura Molina from Oviedo defeated Kristina Sotomayor and Amaia Torralba from Oviedo in three sets (7-11, 7-11, 10-11). Later Claudia Leal and Marta Molina did the same against Laura Álvarez and Leyre Suberviola also in three sets (10-11, 5-11, 6-11), putting the final on track for the Sevillians. After the first two points harvested by the corner players, Oviedo got closer on the scoreboard with Laura Garijo’s comfortable victory in three sets against the young María Ojeda, who came close in the last two sets but without finding a prize.
Claudia Leal would be the protagonist of the morning by achieving victory for those of Anthony Molina. The new signing of the corner team comes through the front door after achieving victory against Amaia Torralba in four sets (10-11, 11-10, 7-11, 6-11) in a masterful way despite not being a specialist in the section of singles, a victory that will undoubtedly become part of the history of Badminton Rinconada.
Molina, euphoric
After the meeting and the award ceremony, Molina was elated by the title he had won: “We had been chasing this title for a long time. Ever since this project was devised by the federation we have always been on the podium, and we knew that this year It was going to be a more than important opportunity to get this title that enhances the showcases of our club”.
Regarding their performance, Molina described their work as “spectacular”: “they have made an extraordinary effort. We have not been able to bring all our girls as we would have liked, but in the same way we knew that with the team we brought we were to fight for everything, I had no doubts. Our final phase has been brilliant and it has been reflected in the scoreboard, since on few occasions we have allowed the rival to get closer to our marker. It is a motivational plus to start the league, because we know that this year we have options to fight for everything and we are showing it from the first hour. Starting the league with a title feels better, without a doubt”
