KUALA LUMPUR: The odds may be heavily stacked against Spaniard Pablo Abian, but the record-setting world No. 62 will be out to prove a point when he faces Lee Zii Jia in the top-of-the-table clash in Group G on Wednesday.
At 39, Abian seeks to demonstrate that players in their 30s can still be at the top of their game, supporting his research as an academician.
On Tuesday, Abian made history as only the fourth badminton player to compete in five Olympics.
He did so in style by defeating Sri Lanka's Viren Nettasinghe, 18 years his junior, with an impressive score of 21-9, 21-19.
A confident Abian is convinced he's in peak condition and believes he can give overwhelming favourite Zii Jia a run for his money.
"I feel good. I came here to fight. I feel quite positive that I am going to have a good tournament," said a buoyed Abian.
Abian aims to at least repeat his outstanding performance against Zii Jia at the Hylo Open, where he forced the latter to save two match points before losing 21-11, 22-24, 24-22 in the first round.
Many badminton fans may not be aware that besides being a renowned professional player in Europe, Abian also holds a PhD in Sports Sciences and teaches at Madrid-based Comillas Pontifical University.
He conducted research on "Elite Badminton Is Getting Older: Ages of the Top 100 Ranked Badminton Players from 1994 to 2020."
Abian certainly contributes to the statistics he collected, as he's one of the players in their late 30s still competing actively on the international circuit.
Others include three-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia.
"We saw that players that are older in badminton have very good results. It comes thanks to better sponsorships, better materials, and we want to give visibility (to the idea) that badminton players over 35 years old can be among the best in the world," he briefly told the media about his research.