“I’ve used more than 500 meters of string in Ibiza 2022”
Vicent Riera (Ibiza, 02/27/1996) has felt two special weeks at the triple international badminton event hosted in Ibiza. He has been on charge of the official stringer service of the IBERDROLA Spanish International, the Spanish U15 & U17 International and the European U15 Championships, tournaments in which he has stringed more than 50 rackets. All of this has an emotional because has worked at ‘home’, at the Sa Blanca Dona sports center where he has spent hours and hours training and playing badminton.
– What would you highlight about this event compared to others in which you have worked?
It has been special because these events has been played at my home, in the pavilion where I have dedicated many hours to train. Is incredible to see that Badminton Ibiza has the capacity to organize two weeks of international tournaments with an European U15 Championships. On the other hand, when I organize the string service stand and a small Yonex material store, I have the hand of ‘Centro del Deporte’, which always provides me everything what I need.
– How many rackets have been strung during these two weeks?
21 in the IBERDROLA Spanish International; 11 in the Spanish International U15 and U17; and 19 in the European Championships, so more than 50 rackets. I’ve spent about 510 meters of string.
Are there any ‘fashionable’ colors?
The string that has been used the most has been the BG80 Yellow fluor, in total there have been more than 17 rackets with this same string.
– Which of the tournaments has been the one that has requested the most strings?
The Future Series, the IBERDROLA Spanish International. After all, at an absolute level breaks more strings and also people are more autonomous to request and paying for it. Younger players has more difficulties.
– Do you remember any anecdote from these two weeks of competitions?
A very common one is that athletes ask for 13 or 14 kg of tension, and then when you deliver it they are ‘freaking out’ because of the harshness of the tension. Many people believe that in their respective clubs, or where they string, their rackets are stringed to that tension and the reality is quite another.
The truth is that in this tournament there have not been many more anecdotes either, but it is true that spending the hours I spend behind the stringing machine, in the end the ears are in “mode on” and always I’ve listened foreign conversations, many of them funny.
GALLERY | The IBIZA 2022 U15 European Championship, in images.
📰 ‘IBIZA 2022’, capital of badminton
Badminton is being breathed in Ibiza during almost the entire month of September, as it is chaining three international tournaments whose grand finale will be the European U15 Championships. Thanks to the invaluable support of the Consell Insular d’Eivissa and the Eivissa City Council, and the predisposition of the Balearic Badminton Federation and Badminton Ibiza, this city is the Spanish and European capital of badminton.
