Training Days – Maria Delia Zambrano

Maria Delia Zambrano, badminton star from Ecuador, had an arduous preparation during the last months, training at the Center of Excellence (Denmark) in September and taking part of a Training Camp in October.

“It has been very good to be able to train in Denmark because of the amount of people I can play and train with, that is something that I lack in Ecuador.”

Maria Delia strives in each training to be better and in her country she usually trains against men or kids, which does not always give her the best thermometer to measure her performance. But her presence in Denmark has allowed her to surround herself with high-level players, such as Beiwen Zhang and other European stars who have taken Maria Delia’s game to the next level.

“Playing with girls, with different styles of play, I learn to adapt my game to be able to face them. And having this training helps me maintain a higher pace of play for the competitions to come.”

After her days in Denmark, Zambrano participated in the South American Games in Paraguay and immediately joined the Pan Am Badminton training camp in Lima, Peru.

“With the trips for each tournament, one gets used to being away from the family, but it is always something complicated”, thus expresses the string of trips that Maria Delia has accumulated in recent months but striving to continue improving.

“The technical part has been something that I focused a lot on during this training period. I have received feedback from the coaches and I think it is something that I can apply in the next tournaments. It is a challenge because it is not something that always train, but I want to make the most of all this.”

When asked about the type of training she had at the Center of Excellence in Denmark and what could be applied in the region, Zambrano assured that “they focus a lot on the technical and tactical part of the game, I think that is something that we need to enhance in the region in addition to the physical training that is more usual for us. That would help our game continue to level up.”

Now Maria Delia is preparing to participate in the Peru International Series 2022 and other international events looking to continue adding points in the world ranking, continue improving her game and achieve a quota for Paris 2024.