Viktor Axelsen Overtakes Kento Momota to Become the New World Number One

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Viktor Axelsen overtakes Kento Momota to become the new world number one. (photo: Shi Tang/Getty Images)
Viktor Axelsen overtakes Kento Momota to become the new world number one. (photo: Shi Tang/Getty Images)

Bali: This week’s update to the BWF world rankings saw the Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Viktor Axelsen of Denmark has regained the World No. 1 spot with a total of 11,3979 ranking points, pushing Japan’s Kento Momota to World No. 2 with a total of 11,2210 ranking points. The Dane was the World No. 1 before Momota clinched the top spot at the end of 2018.

Axelsen has enjoyed an amazing year so far. He started 2021 by winning both the 2020 Yonex Thailand Open (BWF World Tour Super 1000) and the 2020 Toyota Open (BWF World Tour Super 1000). He went on to win the Swiss Open (BWF World Tour Super 300), then the Tokyo Olympics gold, Denmark Open (BWF World Tour Super 1000), and Indonesia Open (BWF World Tour Super 1000). He also advanced to the All England final, which was also a Super 1000 event but lost to Lee Zii Jia from Malaysia.

That record made Axelsen the first badminton player who managed to make five Super 1000 finals in a year and won 4 of them.

“I couldn’t have dreamt of a better year,” said Axelsen after winning the Indonesia Open last Sunday.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Kento Momota reached the No. 1 ranking in September 2018 and has held that top spot for more than three years before dropping to the No. 2.

The 27-year-old Momota was the first Japanese man in either singles or doubles to ever reach World No. 1. His 121 weeks as World No. 1 also included winning the record-breaking 11 international titles in 2019.

However, after suffering serious injuries in a fatal car accident in January 2020, Momota has been struggling to return to his top form, especially when a lot of tournaments were canceled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was the heavy favorite to win the Tokyo Olympics gold at home but was eliminated by Heo Kwang-hee of Korea on the group stage.

Fortunately, he has shown good progress in regaining his dominance by advancing to the 2021 Denmark Open final before losing to Viktor Axelsen, and by winning the 2021 Indonesia Masters.

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