Carolina Marin: 5 things you need to know about Saina Nehwal's next opponent in Denmark Open

Indian ace shuttler Saina Nehwal is all set to face World Number 4 Carolina Marin in the Denmark Open Superseries. Both players are former world number 1s but Marin is now ranked 4th while Nehwal is ranked 12th.

Marin is an Olympic gold medallist and has won numerous Superseries tournaments. But what do we not know about the Spaniard?

#5 She wanted to be a Flamenco dancer

Flamenco is a professionalized art-form based on the various folkloric music traditions of Southern Spain in the autonomous communities of Andalucia, Extremadura and Murcia. Carolina was born in Huelva in Spain where the Flamenco was famous. She wanted to be a Flamenco dancer but destiny had other plans for her.

However, it can be said that her Flamenco training has paid off and has helped her fine-tune her badminton skills.

#4 Grew up in a football-crazy nation

Badminton had to compete with Football and Tennis

Marin was born in a country where sports meant only Football & Tennis. There are roughly 7000 players playing badminton at all levels in Spain and apart from Marin & Beatrix Corrales, they do not have any top-level Badminton players.

Also, due to a lack of top quality women badminton players, Marin usually trains with male players or juniors. Moreover, she travels to Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia for training due to the lack of world-class facilities in Spain.

#3 Youngest European to win a world title

Marin became the youngest European title holder

Carolina Marin was thrust into the limelight when she became the 1st Spaniard to win the European Championship. However, she first turned heads when she defeated the then World no-1 & Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China to bag the World Championship title.

She won her 1st Superseries title by defeating Saina Nehwal in the All-England Championship. She did not stop there though as she went on to win the Malaysian & Australian superseries titles as well.

#2 Olympic Gold

Carolina Marin exults after winning the Olympic gold

Without a doubt, one of the biggest moments in Marin's career came when she won the Olympic gold medal. She was also the first European player to reach the finals of an Olympic event, let alone win it.

After losing in the 2012 Games, she proceeded to get the Olympic rings tattooed on her wrist to serve as a reminder of her defeat.

#1 How she grew to love badminton

She was first introduced to the sport at the age of 8

Marin visited a badminton hall one day with a friend and liked what she saw. She admitted that it was a bit of a strange sport in her country because they were used to watching tennis. At the age of 12, she had to choose between flamenco and badminton. It was a difficult choice because she had to also decide whether to continue with academics.

When she turned 13, she attended the national under-15 championships. Coach Fernando Rivas spotted her and asked the federation officials to speak to her parents and allow her to play. Marin saw the offer as an opportunity which had to be taken then and there.