Tokyo 2020 July 23-Aug 8

From bad boy to golden hope

Badminton star Momota survives ban, car crash and pandemic to make his Games debut

Women's world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying leaping to smash in her opening group game against Switzerland's Sabrina Jaquet at the Tokyo Games yesterday. She won 21-7, 21-13.
Women's world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying leaping to smash in her opening group game against Switzerland's Sabrina Jaquet at the Tokyo Games yesterday. She won 21-7, 21-13. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

TOKYO • Banned from the Rio Games for gambling and almost forced to retire last year after a car crash - Japanese badminton star Kento Momota is finally ready for his Olympic debut today.

The world No. 1 is among the host country's brightest medal hopes at the Tokyo Games, but he will just be glad to compete after fracturing his eye socket in an accident in January last year.

Momota said his "spirit was almost broken" as he tried to recover from the crash - hours after he won the Malaysia Masters - which killed the driver of the vehicle taking him to Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

He suffered double vision and needed surgery on a bone near his eye that delayed his comeback, leaving him fearing his career was over.

"I thought about it. How long will it take?" he said in March last year, when asked if he was worried he might never play again.

"There were times when my spirit was almost broken."

The 26-year-old had been on fire before his accident, winning a record-breaking 11 titles in 2019, including the World Championships, Asia Championships and All England Open. He has since made a full recovery and he heads into his first Olympics as the favourite to win the gold medal.

"I feel like I am not yet a legendary player, but I will work hard in order to play well in future tournaments," he said.

His rise to the top followed a dramatic fall from grace just months before the 2016 Rio Olympics.

He admitted gambling in an illegal casino in April 2016 and was kicked off Japan's Olympic team and banned from competition indefinitely.

He returned a year later and set about making up for lost time, stunning Olympic champion Chen Long for the Asian title in April 2018 before working his way back up the rankings.

"For those who supported me when I wasn't playing, I want to repay them somehow at Tokyo," Momota said.

But then came the accident and a pandemic that forced the cancellation of badminton tournaments all over the world.

Momota played his first match in almost a year at Japan's national championships in Tokyo last December, beating Kanta Tsuneyama in the final.

His hopes of returning to international competition were then dashed when he tested positive for the coronavirus at the airport in January, as the Japan team were about to depart for the Thailand Open. He eventually resumed international play at the All England Open in March, losing to eventual champion Malaysian Lee Zii Jia in the quarter-finals.

Momota's efforts to get back on the court were rewarded with a nomination for Comeback of the Year in this year's Laureus sports awards. He told Laureus in an interview that the pressure to win at the Tokyo Games was "huge".

"I'd like to turn that into a positive and go into the Olympics with a productive degree of pressure and tension," he said.

Women's world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei, meanwhile, won her opening group game against Switzerland's Sabrina Jaquet 21-7, 21-13 yesterday.

She has enjoyed plenty of international success, becoming world No. 1 in 2016, winning the All England Open title three times and a gold at the 2018 Asian Games.

But things have been different on the biggest stage of all, with Tai, 27, coming away from London and Rio empty-handed.

Also playing yesterday was world No. 5 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, who beat Pakistan's Mahoor Shahzad 21-3, 21-8.

In men's doubles, Indonesia's Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo made short work of Britain's Ben Lane and Sean Vendy, winning 21-15, 21-11.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on July 25, 2021, with the headline From bad boy to golden hope. Subscribe