Taymara earns historic medal for Cuba in Badminton

Taymara Oropesa made the best call when she resumed her sports activity. The aforementioned was confirmed this Monday in Santiago de Chile when she became the first Cuban women ever to win a medal in this sort of events.

The native from Holguin secured the bronze medal, which may well improve if she wins in semifinals today. However, what she has done so far is praiseworthy.

Each victory has been huge, but none has been more important than that achieved over Mexican Haramara Gaitan, a woman who had defeated her in the most recent Central American and Caribbean Games held in San Salvador.

The rematch game came with the same confidence with which she left sports. She even mulled the possibility of quitting sports forever. She started strong and won set one 21-14, but Gaitan fought back and won 21-18 in set two.

It forced the Cuban to show all her talent and mastery. She did it with no sign of despair, point by point, even when she was two points behind. The decisive set exceeded the limits, but ended up in Taymara’s side 24-22.

"I got my revenge," she said to JIT. She confessed she had spent hours analyzing videos of her opponent and reread all the notes she had on prior matches.

"That helped me a lot, especially to impose my pace in the most complicated moments of set three," she said before also mentioning the support of the entire team and Zoila Betanco, a psychologist with whom she works remotely.

Before that game, Taymara had performed well and it opened the doors for her to quarterfinals, when she beat Canadian Wen Yun Zhang, second seed of the tournament.

With no time to waste, she faces 22 years-old American Jennie Gay, who earned the gold medal in the Youth Olympic Games in 2018.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff