Para badminton World Champion in Doubles, Rubi Fernandez, stands out for her talent and the results she has obtained in Para badminton, which have given her different opportunities for her personal and professional development.
Within the framework of International Women’s Day, Badminton Pan Am celebrates outstanding women in our sport through interviews throughout the month of March: The Pan Am Women’s Month.
“Sport has opened many doors and opportunities for me, such as a sports scholarship to study. I have also been able to see many places by traveling to the competitions, I have been able to make new friends and bring much joy to both myself and my family.”
In addition to making an effort in training and competitions, Rubi studies Digital Advertising Design, this being one of the opportunities that our sport has offered her. She started in badminton encouraged by the Association of Short Stature of Peru and after trying other sports she chose ours to highlight.
“I heard about badminton for the first time at a meeting of the Association of Short People in Peru. We usually get together to get to know each other and talk about some things about our disability, also about sports like swimming, badminton, women’s soccer, etc. At the beginning I chose to go swimming for health reasons, since it is also like a therapy for us because we suffer from leg pain. Other friends also invited me to practice badminton so I went to try it, I saw that it was an attractive sport and I wanted to continue practicing it. After a while they told me to choose between swimming and badminton, and I chose badminton because I liked it a lot.”
Although the road at the beginning is not easy, with a lot of effort and the support of her family, Rubi can now be proud of her international medals and encourage more people to continue striving to meet each of their goals.
“There can be many difficulties along the way, but when you want to do something, you pursue it until you achieve it. I have faced some difficulties in my sports career, for example, when I started badminton I did not have support from the Federation since I was new, my parents had to cover the expenses of everything I needed and thus we were able to get to where I am now. ”
At the age of 20, Rubi is the World Champion in doubles together with Giuliana Poveda. Her performance and her desire to face each challenge lead her to dream big and for this reason she remains with a clear objective, to qualify for the Santiago 2023 Para Pan American Games and the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
“My goals now are to continue on the podiums in singles, doubles and mixed and qualify for Santiago 2023 and Paris 2024.”
