BANGKOK – When a five-year-old Kodai Naraoka learnt how to play badminton from his father Hiroshi, his favourite pastime was hitting the shuttlecock against the wall at home in Aomori.
After years of hammering, he literally achieved a breakthrough at the age of 13 – when he smashed a hole in that wall. Now 21, the world No. 14 is ready to conquer any barrier in his professional career.
With two-time world champion and world No. 9 Kento Momota on the wane after a career-threatening car accident in 2020, Naraoka is the heir apparent.
He is the only Japanese men’s singles player to qualify for the Badminton World Federation World Tour Finals, comprising the top eight performers from each of the five events.
Naraoka’s record speaks for itself. In 2022, he won one BWF World Tour event, made three other finals and featured in another four semi-finals.
This week at Bangkok’s Nimibutr Arena, he is in Group A with Denmark’s world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen, Indian H. S. Prannoy (No. 12) and Lu Guangzu (No. 17) of China.
Group B comprises Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew (No. 3), Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien-chen (No. 4) and Indonesians Jonatan Christie (No. 5) and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (No. 7).
Through a translator, Naraoka told The Straits Times: “I’m very happy, especially with how I performed in the second half of the year because I worked really hard for this. There are many strong players here, but my aim is to win.
“It is an honour when people compare me with senior players like Momota, but he has his style and I have my own.”
For a start, he is right-handed, unlike Momota. Both, however, are extremely strong in defence.
“Other players may find it hard to find an advantage against me. But I like to think I can attack and smash pretty hard, too,” said Naraoka.
Hiroshi shared that his son’s abilities are more a product of nurture than nature. Naraoka picked up the sport to be closer to his father, who was spending much of his time volunteering as a school coach.
At the BWF Awards gala dinner, where he watched his son claim the Most Promising Player award on Monday, Hiroshi said: “I remember telling him, ‘at the badminton club, I’m not a parent, I’m a coach, so I can’t be nice to you’.
“Even so, he would come, so at first I just let him take a swing. At first, Kodai was slow and his racket didn’t hit the shuttle but I was surprised that he could swing 3,000 times in a row. Of course, I was there as a father to support him in other ways, too, and we learnt and matured together.”
Naraoka has grown from strength to strength. After becoming the first player to win the national junior high school tournament three times in a row, he claimed a bronze at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games.
But he has set his sights on a bigger prize. He said: “The Youth Olympics was a part of my journey and I want first to qualify for Paris 2024, then I want to win an Olympic medal.”
No Japanese has ever clinched a badminton men’s singles medal at the Games. But such obstacles, like the wall in Naraoka’s childhood home, are meant to be smashed.
