Pablo Abián

Pablo Abián Vicén^[a] (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpaβlo aˈβjan]; born 12 June 1985) is a Spanish badminton player.^[1][2] He was the men's singles gold medalists at the 2015 European Games, 2018 and 2022 Mediterranean Games.

Pablo Abián
Personal information
Birth name	Pablo Abián Vicén
Country	Spain
Born	(1985-06-12) 12 June 1985 (age 40)[1] Calatayud, Spain
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	78 kg (172 lb)
Handedness	Right
Men's singles
Highest ranking	20 (8 September 2011)
Current ranking	63 (16 July 2023)
Medal record Men's badminton Representing  Spain European Games 2015 Baku Men's singles Mediterranean Games 2018 Tarragona Men's singles 2022 Oran Men's singles 2013 Mersin Men's singles 2022 Oran Men's doubles
BWF profile

Olympic Games

2008 (Beijing, China)

He competed in badminton at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the men's singles and was defeated in the first round by Kęstutis Navickas (Lithuania), 23–21, 12–21, 21–9.^[3]

2012 (London, Great Britain)

He competed in badminton at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the men's singles. He was the first Spanish man to win a match at an Olympic Games. He won in the first round against Petr Koukal (Czech Republic), 21–17, 16–21, 21–16, then he lost in the next match, against the 2004 Athens Olympics gold medalist Taufik Hidayat (Indonesia), 20–22, 11–21 after having a notable performance in first set where he earned a set point but putting a relatively easy smash into the net.

2016 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

He won his first match 21–12 and 21–10 against Jaspar Yu Woon Chai (Brunei) in the group stage, and lost his second encounter 18–21 and 19–21 to Hu Yun (Hong Kong) after having a good lead in both sets.

2020 (Tokyo, Japan)

Abián competed in the men's singles event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[4] He won his first match 21–7 and 21–11 against Raul Must (Estonia) in the group stage, and lost his second encounter 11–21 and 10–21 to Chen Long (China)

2024 (Paris, France)

Abián competed in the men's singles event at the 2024 Summer Olympics

World Championships

2006 (Madrid, Spain)

Abián played at the 2006 IBF World Championships in the men's singles, and he was defeated in the first round by Andrew Smith of England, 21–15, 21–13.

2007 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

The following year he competed at the 2007 BWF World Championships in the men's singles again. He beat Luka Petrič 21–9, 29–27 in the first round. In the second round, he was beaten by Simon Santoso of Indonesia 18–21, 15–21.

2010 (Paris, France)

Abián competed at the 2010 BWF World Championships in the men's singles. In the first round, he won against Magnus Sahlberg of Sweden 21–15, 21–16, and was beaten in the second round by Marc Zwiebler of Germany with the score of 17–21, 18–21.

2011 (London, England)

Abián played the 2011 BWF World Championships in the men's singles. In the first round, he beat Yuhan Tan 16–21, 21–17, 21–15. In the second round he won against Marc Zwiebler 21–17, 7–21, 24–22. In the last sixteen he lost against Kevin Cordón (Guatemala) 19–21, 21–19, 17–21.

2013 (Guangzhou, China)

Abián played in the 2013 BWF World Championships in the men's singles. In the first round, he won against Osleni Guerrero (Cuba) by 21–14, 23–21. In the second round, he beat Ajay Jayaram (India) by 21–9, 21–17. In the last sixteen, he lost against Nguyễn Tiến Minh (Vietnam) 21–15, 9–21, 10–21.

European Championships

In 2008, Abián was 5th in the European Championship (Herning, Denmark). In the first round he beat Atli Jóhannesson (Iceland) by 21–12, 21–8. In the second round he beath Aamir Ghaffar (England) by 22–20, 21–19. In the last sixteen he beat Steinar Klausen (Norway) 21–8, 21–9. In the quarter-finals he lost against Przemysław Wacha (Poland) 11–21, 17–21.

Abián played at the Master European Circuit Finals in 2010 (Netherlands), he lost in the final against Rune Ulsing (Denmark).

Abián finished first in the European Ranking in the season 2010/2011.

World University Championships, Universiade Games and Mediterranean Games

Abián reached 5th place in the 2010 World University Championship (Chinese Taipei).

He achieved 5th place in the 2011 Summer Universiade (Shenzhen, China). He lost in the quarter-final against Wen Kai (China) by 12–21, 21–23.

Abián won the silver medal at the 2012 World University Championship (Gwangju, Korea). He lost the final against Wen Kai (China) by 16–21, 8–21.^[5]

He won the silver medal at the 2013 Mediterranean Games played in Mersin (Turkey).^[6]

Achievements

European Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2015	Baku Sports Hall, Baku, Azerbaijan	Emil Holst	21–12, 23–21	Gold	[7]

Mediterranean Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2013	Mersin University Hall, Mersin, Turkey	Brice Leverdez	17–21, 21–23	Silver	[8]
2018	El Morell Pavilion, Tarragona, Spain	Lucas Corvée	21–23, 21–15, 21–17	Gold	[9]
2022	Multipurpose Omnisports Hall, Oued Tlélat, Algeria	Luís Enrique Peñalver	21–13, 22–20	Gold	[10]

Men's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2022	Multipurpose Omnisports Hall, Oued Tlélat, Algeria	Luís Enrique Peñalver	Koceila Mammeri Youcef Sabri Medel	21–14, 19–21, 16–21	Silver	[11]

BWF Grand Prix (1 runner-up)

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017.

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2015	Brasil Open	Lin Dan	13–21, 17–21	Runner-up

  BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

  BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (29 titles, 17 runners-up)

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2005	Brazil International	Janek Roos	15–1, 15–6	Winner
2006	Giraldilla International	Ilian Perez		Winner
2006	Lithuanian International	Kęstutis Navickas	15–21, 12–21	Runner-up
2006	Latvia Riga International	Vladislav Druzchenko		Winner
2007	Bahrain Satellite	Sho Sasaki	10–21, 11–21	Runner-up
2007	Giraldilla International	Ernesto Velázquez	20–22, 21–15, 21–9	Winner
2007	Nouméa International	Arvind Bhat	16–21, 21–17, 19–21	Runner-up
2007	Ballarat International	Carlos Longo	21–18, 21–12	Winner
2007	Waikato International	Ashton Chen	17–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2010	Polish Open	Hiroyuki Saeki	21–12, 21–10	Winner
2010	Slovenian International	Wisnu Haryo Putro	21–14, 21–4	Winner
2010	Welsh International	Sven-Eric Kastens	14–21, 21–17, 21–14	Winner
2010	Irish Open	Hans-Kristian Vittinghus	13–21, 21–14, 21–23	Runner-up
2010	Italian International	Przemysław Wacha	13–21, 16–21	Runner-up
2011	Swedish Masters	Viktor Axelsen	21–19, 21–6	Winner
2011	Polish Open	Vladimir Ivanov	21–14, 21–12	Winner
2011	Morocco International	Joachim Persson	21–19, 17–21, 21–19	Winner
2011	Spanish International	Viktor Axelsen	11–21, 21–7, 9–21	Runner-up
2011	Maldives International	Chetan Anand	21–15, 21–16	Winner
2011	Italian International	Ville Lång	13–21, 21–14, 21–13	Winner
2013	Portugal International	Misbun Ramdan Mohmed Misbun	8–21, 9–21	Runner-up
2013	Welsh International	Flemming Quach	21–12, 21–13	Winner
2014	Orleans International	Vladimir Malkov	21–16, 19–21, 22–20	Winner
2014	Guatemala International	Kevin Cordón	4–11, 11–8, 11–5, 11–10	Winner
2015	Swedish Masters	Rajiv Ouseph	15–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2015	Spanish International	Rasmus Fladberg	21–16, 13–21, 21–10	Winner
2015	Bulgarian International	Gurusai Dutt	21–17, 16–21, 21–19	Winner
2015	Chile International Challenge	Ernesto Velázquez	21–14, 21–17	Winner
2016	Dutch International	Kieran Merrilees	21–16, 21–15	Winner
2016	Czech International	Fabian Roth	10–21, 21–17, 21–15	Winner
2016	Welsh International	Kieran Merrilees	21–16, 21–16	Winner
2017	Austrian Open	Kanta Tsuneyama	10–21, 21–12, 11–21	Runner-up
2017	White Nights	Thomas Rouxel	15–21, 21–15, 21–18	Winner
2017	Hungarian International	Victor Svendsen	13–21, 21–15, 12–21	Runner-up
2017	Italian International	Lars Schänzler	18–21, 21–16, 21–14	Winner
2018	Slovenian International	Toby Penty	18–21, 18–21	Runner-up
2018	White Nights	Ajay Jayaram	11–21, 21–16, 21–17	Winner
2019	Algeria International	Ade Resky Dwicahyo	21–8, 21–6	Winner
2019	Hungarian International	Victor Svendsen	17–21, 21–15, 21–12	Winner
2019	Irish Open	Toma Junior Popov	10–21, 22–24	Runner-up
2020	Austrian Open	Max Weißkirchen	20–22, 15–21	Runner-up
2021	Polish Open	Ng Tze Yong	19–21, 11–21	Runner-up
2021	Spanish International	Jan Louda	22–20, 20–22, 21–14	Winner
2023	Lagos International	Jonathan Matias	18–21, 19–21	Runner-up
2024	Swedish Open	Andi Fadel Muhammad	23–21, 21–19	Winner
2024	Nantes International	Alex Lanier	14–21, 13–21	Runner-up

  BWF International Challenge tournament

  BWF International Series tournament

  BWF Future Series tournament

Spanish National Championship

Host city	Result	Event	Year	Final	Score
Santiago de Compostela	1	Mixed doubles	2004	Perez-Abián vs Villar-Chan	15–12, 15–9
Alicante	1	Men's singles	2007	Pablo Abián vs Jose Antonio Crespo	21–10, 21–16
Ibiza	1	Men's singles	2008	Pablo Abián vs Sergio Llopis	21–17, 21–15
Alicante	1	Men's singles	2009	Pablo Abián vs Sergio Llopis	21–10, 21–14
Huelva	1	Men's singles	2010	Pablo Abián vs David Leal	21–7, 21–17
Huelva	1	Men's doubles	2010	Pablo Abián and Javier Abián vs David Leal and Eliezer Ojeda	14–21, 21–17, 21–12
Madrid	1	Men's singles	2011	Pablo Abián vs Ernesto Velázquez	21–17, 21–12
Huesca	1	Men's singles	2012	Pablo Abián vs Jesús Lorenzo	21–12, 21–12
Huesca	1	Men's doubles	2012	Pablo Abián and Javier Abián vs Vicent Martinez and Eliezer Ojeda	21–15, 21–8
A Estrada	1	Men's singles	2013	Pablo Abián vs Ernesto Velázquez	21–13, 21–15
A Estrada	1	Men's doubles	2013	Pablo Abián and Javier Abián vs Daniel Sánchez and Alberto Zapico	21–12, 21–14

Notes

1. In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Abián and the second or maternal family name is Vicén.