Text by BWF |
It’s hard to associate friendly Kevin Cordon with the words ‘upset’ or ‘shock’, but the Guatemalan left-hander has come to own those terms in a badminton context.
Ever since he pulled off a career-defining victory over Chen Long at the World Championships in 2011, the left-hander has become a sort of living image of a jack-in-the-box at the world’s premier event. It helped too, that he conjured another sensational performance a decade later, at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games where he was in a bronze medal playoff.
Now he’s here in New Delhi, at his sixth World Championships – 17 years after he made his World Championships debut in India.
He chuckles about being the face of the World Championships upset.
“Yeah, I beat Chen Long in a really good match. I still watch it sometimes. The World Championships or the Olympic Games are two opportunities to play all these good players, the best players in the world, so when I had a chance, I just did my best at that time; it was a really good match.
“One of my early goals was to try for the Olympics. That’s why I chose badminton because when I was a kid I wanted to be a football player, and then when I had the chance to qualify for the Olympics in 2008 it was really awesome.
“When you have a goal you try to find a way to train well, at least at a minimum level. That’s I’m still playing – because I really like badminton.
“I’m just trying to have a lot of fun. And also, get world ranking points. Because the next year the Olympics race will start, so I want to have fun and also get points.”
The distance between Hyderabad 2009 and New Delhi 2026 spans an era; for Cordon the difference is in how much more he enjoys the game now.
“I have more experience. And I enjoy playing. In the beginning I would worry about players from some particular country; now it doesn’t matter. I just play.”
At 39 he’s no spring chicken, but he’s far from done. Los Angeles in 2028 is on the horizon, and he’s giving it everything he’s got.
“First of all, I like to play badminton. In 2013 I had a really bad injury in my knee. I almost quit, and after that I said OK, I still have a second chance to play, and that’s why I’m playing. Also because I want to qualify for LA ’28. If I make it, I will be the first men’s singles player in six Olympics.”
Any regrets that he couldn’t quite replicate the level of the 2011 or 2020 performances all through his career?
“Not really. When I had the chance I just did my best, because it’s really good to play like this at these tournaments. Also, it’s a big challenge to play at the top level. So for me it’s like a challenge, it doesn’t matter if I win or not.
“There’s a lot of pride. Because when I was a kid, I wanted to qualify for Olympics and I already qualified five times, so for me, it’s really, really good.”
Cordon has shown, especially in his later career, that age hasn’t been a limiting factor. He’s setting new goals, still training hard, at an age when all his peers have long been past competitive badminton. The Guatemalan accepts that he’s proving a point about age.
“After the World Championships in 2011, and also after Olympics 2020, many people say to me, you’re like an example. You don’t need good facilities or all these good things to get good results. If you have good spirit, you can get good results.
“I train 100 per cent every day. It doesn’t matter if I train by myself or with my coach. I just do my best every day.”
