Luis Enrique Penalver (10-2-1996, Toledo) He is number one in Spanish badminton and that did not work the first day “not once behind the wheel”. “I started playing soccer like almost all the children in this country. My brother Marco started badminton after school because José Ramón, my first coach, went to teach a class and got hooked. I had to wait for him to finish because we lived on a farm and our father had to come pick us up. One day when he was a bit late, José Ramón asked my brother who that child was. He told him if he wanted to go down to train and try. I went down the next day and I remember not once getting behind the wheel, but that got me hooked.” Quique was an example of precocity: “When I was eleven years old, I competed for the first time in a Spanish Under’13 Championship in Oviedo and the truth is that I did very well because I reached the semifinals and won bronze. The coaches saw me there oviedo club and of the Asturias technical center and they contacted my parents. We made the decision to open that door and go to Oviedo to live and train. There were doubts that any family in that situation can have, but my parents trusted me, they bet on me and gave me the confidence that any child needs”.
The turning point in his career came “between the first and second years of high school when I had the goal of qualifying for the Youth Olympic Games. There I threw a little more for badminton than for studies, although I continued studying and now I continue to do so at the UCAM with Physical Activity and Sports Sciences ”. At the age of 18, when he beat his brother for the first time in a National League match, he was transferred to the CAR in Madrid and a decisive moment in his career because the Podium Scholarship appeared.. “It was an opportunity for growth and it was clear to me that with badminton I could achieve things. I started in 2014, the first year they came out. I was the first in badminton with another partner. Before it would cost me money to compete, but with the Podium Scholarship everything changed. My father and the Oviedo club no longer had to pay for certain championships”.
Three years after starting with the Podium Scholarship, the first title in the Romanian International. Then came victories in Wales, Turkey, Mexico, the Maldives – the best moment of his career – and a second-place finish weeks ago in Peru.. These are tournaments, the latter, which are the prelude to the World Tourthe circuit in which the best compete and which is divided into tournaments Super 300, Super 500, Super 750 y Super 1.000. “The goal is to enter the World Tour. Being around the top 40, top 50 -he is currently number 56 in the world- and thus he could enter some World Tour tournament, but not all. My goal is to enter at least the Super 500 and we are on the right track. I am ending the year with very good results and with a training dynamic that is correct and that is the way to go ”, he assures.
To this objective and more in the medium term are the Paris Olympics. “For the Games, 36 players usually qualify and in the case of Spain it will be the one that is highest in the ranking,” Quique comments. The “fight” will be with Pablo Abián. “Now I’m ahead -Abián is 84th in the ranking- and everyone has to play his cards. You have to train, improve and the results will be a consequence of that work. The important thing is to focus on preparing yourself in the best possible way and enjoying that process.” A few words that reveal his work for a long time with sports psychologists. Now he is with María Martínez, the psychologist who works with Carolina Marín. “I don’t yell as much as she does, but I also let out a few. Caroline’s is amazing. To have the best badminton player in history with us is fantastic. It is our Christmas”.
Quique is defined as a “Very attacking player, what I like the most are the shots. It is the blow that fills me the most. The speed of the flywheel is incredible – the record is just over 400 kilometers per hour – and you don’t believe that something so fragile and so light can reach that speed. I remember a match I played against the Japanese Kento Momota, who was number one in the world, and he seemed to me from another universe, not from another planet. I like to rewatch my matches to see where I’ve improved or where I can improve.” The most immediate challenge comes with the Canada International that starts this coming week and the European Championship for teams with the challenge of qualifying Spain for the final phase..
