‘No pressure’ for top seed heading into tourney

Robert Cordon, Olympian badminton player from Guatemala, at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium last Sunday. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO )

The top seed in the twin Olympic qualifiers, 36-year-old Olympian Kevin Cordon of Guatemala, arrived on Saipan Sunday along with other badminton players from around the world.

In an interview, the Olympian who made it to the semifinals in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games said he doesn’t feel pressured heading into the Crowne Plaza Northern Marianas Open 2023  which starts today at 3pm. “Actually, when you are serious, you will feel pressure, but sometimes you’re lucky…”

In fact, he said he is excited to play in the Oceania region again in this 2024 Paris Olympic Games qualifying tournament here on Saipan, as he has played in New Zealand in 2009.

Before this tournament, Cordon actually played three weeks ago in a tournament in Mexico.

Cordon followed the road to this Olympic qualifier in the CNMI as the Olympic qualifiers first started last May. He said a lot of tournaments were happening around the world such as in Denmark and France in Europe. They then had to decide to play the tournament on Saipan when it came down to choosing where he would play.

As for what he expects the level of competition in the tournament to be, he said it’ll be a strong competition. “It’s going to be hard. These players from Asian countries—it’s going to be tough.”

But, even with that, his strategy for the tournament is to play while having fun. “I know I have to play well, I know that I have to win or get points for my world ranking. I know all those things. But I don’t want to put pressure on [myself]. So, I’ll just try to have fun with every point and in every
match.”

About the venue, which is at the newly renovated Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium in Oleai, Cordon said that it’s really nice. “It’s really nice. The problem with some of the venues [is that] sometimes the lights are too high, but here, it’s really good to play. So, let’s see what happens. We thought it’s going to be really hot, but right now it’s
not.”

Cordon is currently ranked No. 46 in the world.

In a separate interview with the coach for the NMI National Badminton Team, Ezekiel Macario, he said that the tournament will be “very challenging, but we’re going to be putting our best effort and hopefully make everybody proud with our performance.”

He said the strength of the NMI team is their hard work. “We have a strong mentality. We don’t give up and we’re resilient.”

For the teams that they look forward to challenging, Macario said Chinese-Taipei would be the strongest team. “But really, we’re looking forward to playing with everybody and getting experience. I think that’s the best part about playing against everybody.”

The NMI is hosting back-to-back 2024 Paris Olympic Games qualifying tournaments—the Crowne Plaza Northern Marianas Open 2023 starting today, Tuesday, June 6—and the TakeCare Saipan International 2023. The former’s qualifying round games will run from 3pm to 4pm, while main draw games will follow suit and take place until 9pm. 

Tomorrow’s action will be from 10am to 9pm; Thursday’s games are from 12pm to 9pm; and Friday is from 1pm to 9pm. Semis matches on Saturday will be from 1pm to 9pm, while finals in the men’s and women’s singles and men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles are slated for Sunday, June 11, from 12pm to 5pm. The same schedule will be in effect for the Saipan International 2023.