World Badminton Championships 2017: Carolina Marin eyes 3rd title, says she is better prepared than Rio Olympics

Glasgow: Eyeing a hat-trick of titles at the World Championship, defending champion Carolina Marin says she is better prepared than the Rio Olympics where the shuttler had clinched the gold medal. [caption id=“attachment_2142633” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Spain’s Carolina Marin. AFP[/caption] “It’s been two months of preparation; I’ve prepared better than I had before the Rio Olympics,” Marin told reporters. “My main aim is to fight for gold. I have some tough matches coming up but I’m not thinking of the title defence. I will take it match by match.” After the Rio Games, Marin had to deal with nagging ailments on her thigh and they affected her performance as she could not win a title. The Spaniard conceded two walkovers and also saw her ranking drop to No.4. “The Olympics was a year ago. I have to forget that. After the Olympics, I had some injuries and couldn’t do well and it was frustrating. Now I’m playing well again,” said the former World No. 1. The third seeded player got a bye in the opening round and will open her campaign by taking on the winner of the match between Hong Kong’s Yip Pui Yin and Russia’s Natalia Perminova in the second round.