Kevin Cordón

Kevin Haroldo Cordón Buezo (born 28 November 1986) is a Guatemalan badminton player. He won two men's singles title at the Pan American Games, four title at the Pan Am Championships (3 in singles and 1 in doubles), and six title at the Central American and Caribbean Games (4 in singles and 2 in doubles). He is a five-time Olympian for Guatemala participating at the 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and the 2024 Olympic Games.

Career

Born in La Unión, Zacapa, Cordón was named after former England international footballer Kevin Keegan, of whom his father was a fan. In spite of badminton not being popular in Guatemala during his childhood, he became a badminton player as he thought it would give him a better chance of one day becoming an Olympian than if he played a different sport, being the first member of his family to practice the sport. He began playing at the age of 11 and by 1998 he was a part of the Zacapa Department's youth team.

After winning the silver medal at the 2007 Pan American Games, Cordón qualified to the 2008 Olympic Games, and was selected as the flag bearer of his nation's Olympic team. At the Beijing Games he lost against the #3 seeded player, Bao Chunlai from China.

At the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, he won three gold medals in the singles, doubles, and team events, being the Guatemalan athlete with the most medals won during the games.

Cordón then competed at the 2011 BWF World Championships in London where he reached the quarterfinals after beating fifth seeded Chen Long from China, Henri Hurskainen from Sweden and Pablo Abian from Spain to face the tournament's top seeded Lee Chong Wei. There he lost to the Malaysian player in two straight sets.

Cordón was selected as the flag bearer for the Guatemalan team at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Pan American Games, and was also the top seeded player in the men's singles event. On 20 October 2011, he won his first Pan-American Games gold medal by beating Cuban competitor Osleni Guerrero in the final. Cordón did not lose one set in the tournament. In 2015, he successfully defended his men's singles Pan Am Games title at the Atos Markham Pan Am Centre in Toronto at the Pan American Games beating Canadian Andrew D'Souza 21–13, 21–14 in the final.

Cordón qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics singles competition. He won both of his group matches beating 15th seed Englishman Rajiv Ouseph and Swedish player Henri Hurskainen in the process, thus winning a place in the round of 16. He lost his round of 16 match versus Sho Sasaki of Japan. He qualified again to the 2016 Summer Olympics, but had to withdraw due to injury after finishing the first match losing a tough 3-setter against Adrian Dziolko of Poland.

Cordón qualified again for the 2020 Summer Olympics. He won both of his group matches, defeating Mexican Lino Munoz and the 8th-seeded Ng Ka Long, thus winning a place in the round of 16. He defeated Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time ever. In the quarter-finals, he defeated Korean Heo Kwang-hee 21–13 and 21–18 to become the first Central American to advance to the Olympic badminton semi-finals. He lost the semi-final to eventual gold medalist Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and the bronze medal match to Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, both on straight games.

Kevin Cordón twice won the continental Pan Am Badminton Championships in the men's singles event in 2009 and 2012 and also once the men's doubles Pan Am badminton event in 2009 with compatriot Rodolfo Ramirez.

Already as a junior player in 2004 he won the continental Pan Am Junior Badminton Championships boys' singles title in the U-19 category.

On 3 July 2024, the Guatemalan Olympic Committee, choicen to he and the female sport shooter Waleska Soto as the flag bearers to París 2024

Achievements

Pan American Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2007	Riocentro Sports Complex, Pavilion 4B, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Mike Beres	21–13, 11–21, 10–21	Silver
2011	Multipurpose Gymnasium, Guadalajara, Mexico	Osleni Guerrero	23–21, 21–19	Gold
2015	Atos Markham Pan Am Centre, Toronto, Canada	Andrew D'Souza	21–13, 21–14	Gold
2019	Polideportivo 3, Lima, Peru	Brian Yang	21–15, 13–21, 3–13 retired	Bronze
2023	Olympic Training Center, Santiago, Chile	Brian Yang	18–21, 6–21	Silver

Pan Am Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2008	Club de Regatas, Lima, Peru	David Snider	21–23, 21–6, 19–21	Bronze
2009	Coliseo Olímpico de la Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico	Stephan Wojcikiewicz	21–11, 21–19	Gold
2012	Manuel Bonilla Stadium, Lima, Peru	Osleni Guerrero	23–21, 21–19	Gold
2018	Teodoro Palacios Flores Gymnasium, Guatemala City, Guatemala	Jason Ho-Shue	14–21, 17–21	Bronze
2019	Gimnasio Olímpico, Aguascalientes, Mexico	Osleni Guerrero	11–21, 20–22	Silver
2021	Sagrado Corazon de Jesus, Guatemala City, Guatemala	Jason Ho-Shue	17–21, 18–21	Bronze
2022	Palacio de los Deportes Carlos "El Famoso" Hernández, San Salvador, El Salvador	Brian Yang	21–17, 21–14	Gold
2023	G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport, Kingston, Jamaica	Uriel Canjura	22–20, 12–21, 14–21	Bronze
2024	Teodoro Palacios Flores Gymnasium, Guatemala City, Guatemala	Uriel Canjura	14–21, 21–17, 21–13	Gold

Men's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2008	Club de Regatas, Lima, Peru	Rodolfo Ramírez	Toby Ng William Milroy	16–21, 9–21	Silver
2009	Coliseo Olímpico de la Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico	Rodolfo Ramírez	Antonio de Vinatea Martín del Valle	21–18, 17–21, 23–21	Gold
2014	Markham Pan Am Centre, Markham, Canada	Aníbal Marroquín	Phillip Chew Sattawat Pongnairat	13–21, 7–21	Bronze

Central American and Caribbean Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2006	Pavilion of Parque del Este, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	Ilian Perez		Gold
2010	Raymond Dalmau Coliseum, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico	Pedro Yang	21–15, 21–12	Gold
2014	Omega Complex, Veracruz, Mexico	Osleni Guerrero	20–22, 21–13, 24–22	Gold
2018	Coliseo Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia	Osleni Guerrero	21–16, 14–21, 25–23	Gold

Men's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2006	Pavilion of Parque del Este, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	Rodolfo Ramírez	Lazaro Jerez Ilian Perez	21–12, 13–21, 15–21	Bronze
2010	Raymond Dalmau Coliseum, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico	Rodolfo Ramírez	Andrés López Lino Muñoz	18–21, 21–17, 21–6	Gold
2014	Omega Complex, Veracruz, Mexico	Aníbal Marroquín	Rodolfo Ramírez Jonathan Solís	22–20, 22–20	Gold

BWF International Challenge/Series (44 titles, 19 runner-up)

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2007	Bulgarian International	Jan Fröhlich	13–21, 7–17 retired	Runner-up
2007	Cyprus International	Chetan Anand	8–21, 24–26	Runner-up
2008	Peru International	Andrés Corpancho	21–14, 21–14	Winner
2008	Miami PanAm International	Christian Lind Thomsen	21–18, 21–10	Winner
2008	Brazil International	Andrés Corpancho	21–15, 21–14	Winner
2008	Puerto Rico International	Kaveh Mehrabi	21–13, 21–9	Winner
2009	Giraldilla International	Ari Trisnanto	21–19, 14–21, 18–21	Runner-up
2009	Puerto Rico International	Pedro Martins	18–21, 21–13, 21–17	Winner
2009	Mexican International	Charles Pyne	21–11, 21–13	Winner
2009	Santo Domingo Open	Rodolfo Ramírez	21–17, 21–12	Winner
2009	Guatemala International	Rodolfo Ramírez	21–16, 21–12	Winner
2010	Suriname International	Abdul Aditya	23–21, 21–9	Winner
2010	Miami PanAm International	Hock Lai Lee	13–21, 21–14, 21–18	Winner
2010	Santo Domingo Open	Pedro Martins	10–21, 13–21	Runner-up
2010	Guatemala International	Rodolfo Ramírez	21–14, 21–16	Winner
2010	Brazil International	Hock Lai Lee	13–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2011	Peru International	Michael Lahnsteiner	23–21, 6–21, 21–12	Winner
2011	Slovenian International	Hsu Jen-hao	14–21, 21–19, 10–21	Runner-up
2012	Guatemala International	Howard Shu	Walkover	Winner
2012	Brazil International	Niluka Karunaratne	17–21, 22–20, 21–19	Winner
2014	Mercosul International	Rodolfo Ramírez	21–14, 21–16	Winner
2014	Argentina International	Daniel Paiola	21–12, 21–18	Winner
2014	Chile International	Rodolfo Ramírez	9–11, 11–9, 11–2, 11–6	Winner
2014	Guatemala International	Pablo Abián	11–4, 8–11, 5–11, 10–11	Runner-up
2015	Peru International Series	Daniel Paiola	21–16, 22–20	Winner
2015	Mercosul International	Marius Myhre	21–14, 21–17	Winner
2015	Mauritius International	Luka Wraber	21–12, 21–18	Winner
2015	Guatemala International	Ygor Coelho	22–20, 21–11	Winner
2015	Brazil International	Ygor Coelho	18–21, 22–20, 19–21	Runner-up
2015	Puerto Rico International	Howard Shu	21–17, 21–15	Winner
2016	Guatemala International	Osleni Guerrero	Walkover	Runner-up
2017	Yonex / K&D Graphics International	Kento Momota	7–21, 15–21	Runner-up
2017	Carebaco International	Karan Rajan Rajarajan	21–19, 21–18	Winner
2017	Internacional Mexicano	Aníbal Marroquín	21–12, 21–9	Winner
2017	Guatemala International	Leodannis Martínez	21–17, 21–18	Winner
2018	Peru International	Osleni Guerrero	22–20, 14–21, 21–15	Winner
2018	International Mexicano	Maxime Moreels	21–19, 21–14	Winner
2018	Guatemala International	Timothy Lam	21–12, 21–13	Winner
2018	Suriname International	Elias Bracke	21–13, 21–15	Winner
2019	Jamaica International	Kodai Naraoka	17–21, 8–21	Runner-up
2019	Peru International	Brian Yang	21–15, 13–21, 12–21	Runner-up
2019	International Mexicano	Lino Muñoz	21–16, 21–13	Winner
2019	Guatemala International	Lino Muñoz	21–6, 11–3 retired	Winner
2019	Brazil International	Lino Muñoz	21–19, 21–19	Winner
2019	Santo Domingo Open	Brian Yang	8–21, 4–21	Runner-up
2019	Suriname International	Brian Yang	Walkover	Runner-up
2021	Guatemala International	Victor Lai	21–13, 21–11	Winner
2022	Mexican International	Jonathan Matias	21–10, 21–13	Winner
2022	El Salvador International	Uriel Canjura	18–21, 23–21, 18–21	Runner-up
2023	Brazil International	Ygor Coelho	22–20, 14–21, 21–16	Winner
2023	Guatemala International	Ygor Coelho	21–17, 11–21, 21–23	Runner-up
2023	Peru Challenge	Takuma Kawamoto	12–21, 21–16, 14–21	Runner-up
2023	Guatemala International	Giovanni Toti	21–8, 21–19	Winner
2023	Mexican International	Aria Dinata	21–15, 21–15	Winner
2023	El Salvador International	Ygor Coelho	21–17, 15–21, 21–19	Winner

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2009	Peru International	Rodolfo Ramírez	José Vicente Martínez Javier Tur	16–21, 8–2 retired	Winner
2009	Puerto Rico International	Rodolfo Ramírez	Phillip Chew Halim Haryanto	21–19, 13–21, 21–16	Winner
2009	Santo Domingo Open	Rodolfo Ramírez	Phillip Chew Halim Haryanto	21–23, 21–15, 21–17	Winner
2009	Guatemala International	Rodolfo Ramírez	Mathew Fogarthy David Neuman	21–16, 21–14	Winner
2010	Suriname International	Rodolfo Ramírez	Virgil Soeroredjo Mitchel Wongsodikromo	21–14, 21–16	Winner
2010	Santo Domingo Open	Rodolfo Ramírez	Adrian Liu Derrick Ng	21–18, 24–22	Winner
2010	Guatemala International	Rodolfo Ramírez	Adrian Liu Derrick Ng	21–23, 20–22	Runner-up
2017	Mercosul International	Aníbal Marroquín	Rodolfo Ramírez Jonathan Solís	21–15, 13–21, 13–21	Runner-up

  BWF International Challenge tournament

  BWF International Series tournament

  BWF Future Series tournament

Record against selected opponents

Includes results against CACSO Games finalists, Pan Am Games finalists, Pan Am Championships finalists, Super Series finalists, World Championship semifinalists, Olympic quarter-finalists, and all Olympic opponents.