Tokyo: With 10 days to go before the Olympics begin in Tokyo, Kento Momota, who is the No. 1 men’s singles player in the world, is aiming for winning the first gold medal in badminton men’s singles event for Japan at the Olympics.
Momota who just dyed his hair with a little bit of gold is an undisputed gold medal contender, but there’s immeasurable pressure and challenges for him to win gold at home.
“I tried to brighten my mood with my new hair color while aiming for the Olympic gold medal,” said Momota in an online interview on July 8th.
The 26-year-old who is known for his physical strength and capability of engaging in long rallies probably doesn’t like to face World No. 5 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia. And fortunately, they were drawn into different half of the Olympic draw.
With a height of 171 cm, Ginting is smaller in size compared to Momota, but he has one of the quickest attacking power among top badminton players in the world. Japan’s national badminton team head coach – Park Joo-bong admitted that Ginting is “Momota’s number one rival.” Even though Momota has an 11-4 record against Ginting, but 8 of their matches were decided in rubber games.
Since recovering from the traffic accident which happened in January last year, Momota has only participated in one tournament – the 2021 All England. He is still trying to find the feeling of actual competition. It’s going to be difficult for him to return Ginting’s attacks if he’s not in good shape and if they meet in the final.
Before the final, Momota and World No. 2, Viktor Axelsen would create the possibility of a mouth-watering match in the semi-final. Although Momota earned a 14-1 head-to-head record against Axelsen, Axelsen has been in strong form this year by winning 3 out of 5 tournaments he participated in.
“I am the No. 1 in the world, and I feel like I shouldn’t lose. It’s not that I’ve easily become the World No. 1, I have worked very hard to achieve this,” said Momota.
At the bottom half of the draw, the reigning Olympic champion Chen Long of China has a 5-5 head-to-head record against Momota. Although Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia had a 1-6 career meeting record against Momota, Lee clinched a decisive victory against Momota in the 2021 All England quarter-final with a score of 21-16, 21-19. Lee went on to claim the 2021 All England title by winning an epic battle against Viktor Axelsen in the final with the score 30-29, 20-22, 21-9.
“In the past, I was able to see myself focusing only on my favorite training and cutting corners on other stuff. But recently, I’ve been learning how to face myself,” said Momota.
“I took it very seriously in running, which I didn’t like. I used to feel so nervous when running and I couldn’t talk to the people around me,” admitted Momota.
Park Joo-bong also confident that Momota could do well in the Olympics.
“If he could make use of his experience by winning big tournaments such as the World Championships and the All England, he has a chance of winning gold in the Olympics,” added Park.
