With only one week left before the start of the Chengdu Tang You Cup, former men's singles world No. 1 and Japanese star Kento Momota held a press conference to announce his decision to retire from the national team after the Tang You Cup, which means that the Tang You Cup will be his last dance in the international competition.
When talking about the reasons for retiring, he believes that not being able to recover to the best condition after a car accident is the main reason. Momota said, "After the car accident in January '20, I went through a lot of hardships and tried a lot to play my own way, thinking that I would be able to return to my previous level, but when I came back to the game, I felt the difference and felt that I couldn't get back to my old form. Although he can still play, he is now a junior athlete, so he decided to quit the national team. ”
The Thomas Cup can be said to be where Momota's dream began, and in 14 years he helped Japan win the Thomas Cup, thus winning the first team world championship. In the third men's singles semi-final, Kento Momota defeated Du Pengyu 23-25/21-18/21-14. Since then, Momota has started his own road to dominance in the men's singles. In 15 years, Momota has defeated Hu Yun, Jorgensen, Axelsen, Zhou Tiancheng and other famous players.
In 18 and 19 years, Momota won a total of 11 international championships, including the All England Badminton Open, Japan Open, World Badminton Championships, China Open, Korea Open, and BWF Tour Finals, breaking the record of 10 crowns in a single season set by Lee Chong Wei. So far, no player has been able to break this record.
However, in 20 years, Momota encountered a turning point in his career, when he was in a car accident while competing in Malaysia, and was finally diagnosed with an orbital floor fracture in his right eye, and missed a number of events. His form then plummeted, and although he competed in the Olympics on home soil, he lost in the first round. The selection competition for the Paris Olympics in '24 also lagged behind, and after the Asian Championships, the Olympic points competition also came to an end, and Momota missed the Paris Olympics.
Kento Momota put the place where the dream ended and the place where the dream began, which was the Thomas Cup. According to the draw, the Japanese team is in the same group as Chinese Taipei, Germany, and the Czech Republic. In terms of grouping, Japan will compete with Chinese Taipei for the top spot in the group, and based on Momota's current strength, he may be able to compete against Germany and the Czech Republic.
In this Thomas Cup, the Japanese men's team sent a full main lineup, the men's singles is led by Kodai Naraoka, as well as Kento Momota, Kenta Nishimoto, Watanabe Hangtaka and other good players, and in the men's doubles, Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi played the first doubles, and Teru Koga/Taiichi Saito and Kenya Mihashi/Yoki Okamura were also shortlisted.