Kevin Cordón

Born in La Unión, Zacapa, Cordón was named after former England international footballer Kevin Keegan,[2] of whom his father was a fan. In spite of badminton not being popular in Guatemala during his childhood, he became a badminton player as he thought it would give him a better chance of one day becoming an Olympian than if he played a different sport, being the first member of his family to practice the sport.[3] He began playing at the age of 11 and by 1998 he was a part of the Zacapa Department's youth team.[4]

After winning the silver medal at the 2007 Pan American Games, Cordón qualified to the 2008 Olympic Games, and was selected as the flag bearer of his nation's Olympic team. At the Beijing Games he lost against the #3 seeded player, Bao Chunlai from China.

At the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, he won three gold medals in the singles, doubles, and team events, being the Guatemalan athlete with the most medals won during the games.

Cordón then competed at the 2011 BWF World Championships in London where he reached the quarterfinals after beating fifth seeded Chen Long from China, Henri Hurskainen from Sweden and Pablo Abian from Spain to face the tournament's top seeded Lee Chong Wei. There he lost to the Malaysian player in two straight sets.[5]

Cordón was selected as the flag bearer for the Guatemalan team at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Pan American Games,[6] and was also the top seeded player in the men's singles event. On October 20, 2011, he won his first Pan-American Games gold medal by beating Cuban competitor Osleni Guerrero in the final. Cordón did not lose one set in the tournament.[7] In 2015, he successfully defended his men's singles Pan Am Games title at the Atos Markham Pan Am Centre in Toronto at the Pan American Games beating Canadian Andrew D'Souza 21–13, 21–14 in the final.

Cordón qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics singles competition. He won both of his group matches beating 15th seed Englishman Rajiv Ouseph and Swedish player Henri Hurskainen in the process, thus winning a place in the round of 16. He lost his round of 16 match versus Sho Sasaki of Japan. He qualified again to the 2016 Summer Olympics, but had to withdrew due to injury after finishing the first match losing a tough 3 setter against Adrian Dziolko of Poland (21-18, 10-21, 13-21).

Cordón qualified again for the 2020 Summer Olympics. He won both of his group matches, defeating Mexican Lino Munoz (21-14, 21-12) and the 9th ranked and 8th seeded Ng Ka Long (22-20, 21-13), thus winning a place in the round of 16. He defeated Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands (21-17, 3-21, 21-19) to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time ever. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Korean Heo Kwang-hee (21-13, 21-18) to become the first person from Central America to advance to the semifinals.[8] He would go on to lose the semifinal to eventual gold medalist Viktor Axelsen from Denmark (18-21, 11-21) and then the bronze medal match to Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (11-21, 13-21).

Kevin Cordón twice won the continental Pan Am Badminton Championships in the men's singles event in 2009 and 2012 and also once the men's doubles Pan Am badminton event in 2009 with compatriot Rodolfo Ramirez.

Already as a junior player in 2004 he won the continental Pan Am Junior Badminton Championships boys' singles title in the U-19 category.

Includes results against CACSO Games finalists, Pan Am Games finalists, Pan Am Championships finalists, Super Series finalists, World Championship semifinalists, Olympic quarter-finalists, and all Olympic opponents.[10]

https://www.marca.com/juegos-olimpicos/badminton/2021/08/01/610673a8ca474145268b4642.html

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kevin Cordón.

• Kevin Cordón at BWF.tournamentsoftware.com
• Kevin Cordón at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Kevin Cordon at the International Olympic Committee