Shi out to prove himself after suspension ends

TOKYO • Ahead of his first tournament in 10 months, Chinese shuttler Shi Yuqi has a point to prove by winning the men's singles title at the World Championships, which kicks off in Tokyo today.

Rio Games gold medallist Chen Long remains the last Chinese world champion back in 2015.

Shi reached the final when the event was held in Nanjing in 2018, but he was beaten by Japan's Kento Momota.

This time, the 26-year-old does not have momentum behind him. His last match was in the Thomas Cup semi-finals last October, when he retired at 22-20, 20-5 down to Momota.

He was then suspended by the Chinese Badminton Association for making some "inappropriate remarks" about his withdrawal.

Shi has since slipped to world No. 25, but he bears no grievance over his ban and is instead focused on his opening round-of-64 match against Indonesia-born Ade Resky Dwicahyo of Azerbaijan today.

"I am very excited to return to the court," he said. "I have never been out of practice in the past 10 months. I think I am still in good form.

"During the days without competitions, I have always been playing competitive matches against my teammates. My preparation included watching videos of my matches and many other things.

"I hope to win the world title. I want to prove myself. But you need to win every match to that end. I will try not to think that far at the moment."

Unlike Shi, Momota has been playing more regularly but the former world No. 1 will be the first to admit he has yet to get back to his best since suffering career-threatening injuries in a Kuala Lumpur car crash over two years ago that left the driver dead.

The 27-year-old has been in dismal form this year, losing in the first round of four of the seven singles tournaments he has entered.

But he is hoping that home support can help him upset the odds and claim a third title when the world championships begin.

Momota said yesterday: "I'm not feeling so bad in practice but I'm not managing to perform in games so there is still a lot of unease.

"It's been a long time since I played in front of Japanese fans and I want to feel their support and enjoy playing in front of them.

"I'm feeling not so bad, although there is still a little bit of tiredness there. I need to listen to my body when I go into games."

Momota has been replaced at the top by Denmark's Viktor Axelsen. The Olympic gold medallist will be the hot favourite to dethrone Singaporean world champion Loh Kean Yew and capture a second world title, having lost only one match on tour this season.

"When you have won many tournaments, you believe you can also win this one," the 28-year-old said.

Loh begins his title defence against Spain's Pablo Abian today, while Jason Teh will meet Dutchman Mark Caljouw. In the men's doubles, Singapore's Terry Hee and Loh Kean Hean play France's Christo and Toma Popov.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, XINHUA