Olympic and world badminton champion Carolina Marín of Spain retires

MADRID (AP) — Carolina Marín, one of the greatest ever badminton players, retired on Thursday after the Spaniard couldn't fully recover from a third serious knee injury.

Marín, 32, said in a social media post that “my journey in professional badminton has come to an end.”

Marín is the only woman from outside Asia to win the Olympic singles when she won gold at Rio de Janeiro in 2016. She was also the first woman to win three world championships, was ranked No. 1 for a record 66 weeks, and took a record seven European championships.

She has not competed since the 2024 Paris Olympics when she tore the ACL in her right knee for a second time during the semifinals. She was winning that match until she collapsed in agony on the court. Marin tried a knee brace but lasted only two more points. She was too injured to play the bronze medal match.

“I actually did go out while on the court, in Paris in 2024, but we just didn’t know it at that time,” Marín said on Thursday.

She first tore the ACL in her right knee in 2019. She recovered but ruptured the ACL in her left knee and was unable to defend her Olympic title at Tokyo in 2021.

Marin came from behind to beat Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the final of the 2014 worlds, retained the title in 2015 and achieved an unprecedented third crown in 2018. She wasn't match until last year by Akane Yamaguchi.

Marín made the retirement announcement before the European championship to be held in her hometown of Huelva, Spain, next month.

“I wanted us to see each other for one last time on the court," she said, “but not if it meant putting my body at risk.”

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FILE - Spain's Carolina Marin celebrates after defeating Japan's Aya Ohori during their women's singles badminton quarterfinal match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Aug. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, file)

TOKYO (AP) — A man brandishing a knife stabbed a woman in a Pokemon store in downtown Tokyo before turning the knife on himself, leaving both dead, Japanese police said Thursday.

Officers rushed to the scene in a popular shopping center after receiving an emergency call reporting a rampage by a knife-wielding man.

Police said the woman, who was stabbed in the neck, was in her 20s and believed to be an employee at the Pokemon store on the second floor of the Sunshine City building, which houses shops and offices.

The attacker then stabbed himself in the neck, Tokyo police said. Both the attacker and the victim were in critical condition when they were taken to hospital and were later pronounced dead, police said.

Police said they are investigating the attack as murder.

A man who was at the Pokemon shop, which was crowded with dozens of other customers including children, told the Asahi that he ran out when he heard a woman screaming for help and noise of shelves crashing down to the floor. When he turned back he saw a store staff with blood stains on his shirt and a man wearing black clothes forcing his way into a sales counter.

Japan's NHK public television said shoppers fled the area, while employees in nearby stores pulled down the shutters for safety.

Japan has strict gun control laws and violent crimes are still rare, but there have been a number of high-profile knife attacks in recent years.

Police and emergency responders are on the scene of a deadly stabbing in downtown Tokyo on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Kyodo News via AP)