Rio: World No. 1 ranked pair Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo have abundant incentive to win the women’s doubles title at the Rio Olympics.
Not only would a badminton gold medal for the pair, dubbed “Taka-Matsu” by Japanese media, be the first at an Olympics for the country, it would also provide a silver lining to the dark cloud that has hung over the Japanese team following a gambling scandal that embroiled two leading male players.
Star player Kento Momota — a legitimate contender for singles gold in Rio having reached as high as No. 2 in the world before his suspension — and teammate Kenichi Tago in April admitted to gambling at illegal casinos.
The 21-year-old Momota was subsequently axed from the team, while Tago was indefinitely struck off the Nippon Badminton Association’s official player list.
However, Japan team coach Park Joo Bong says his players have put the troubles with their teammates behind them, while Takahashi and Matsutomo have welcomed the extra pressure of being thrust into the limelight as Japan’s main medal hope in Momota’s absence.
“Of course it (the gambling scandal) was a big problem, but I told the federation that we couldn’t go to the Olympics in such an atmosphere,” Park was recently quoted as saying by the Japan Times.
“Of course we have looked back on what happened with remorse, but now we are concentrating only on the Olympics.”
“It was Momota’s problem, so individually it has nothing to do with the other players. The atmosphere in the team was a little down at the time, but now we have reflected on it and moved on.”
Takahashi and Matsutomo head to Rio having recently won the Indonesian Open Superseries tournament, beating Chinese pair Yu Yang and Tang Yuanting in the June 5 final.
“We wanted to get a title under our belt before the Olympics,” said Takahashi on her return from Indonesia. “We beat our Chinese rivals and that will give us confidence.”
“There will be a lot of good teams at the Olympics, like China and South Korea, and we want to beat our biggest rivals on the biggest stage.”
“There are going to be high expectations of us (in Rio) but we are grateful for that. We intend to turn that pressure into power,” added Takahashi, who with Matsutomo has established a productive on-court relationship over many years.
“This is our 10th year playing together and when it comes to our combinations, we are second to none,” said Matsutomo.
Takahashi and Matsutomo in March became the first Japanese pair since Atsuko Tokuda and Mikiko Takada in 1978 to capture the women’s doubles crown at the All-England Championships.
In Rio, the Japanese shuttlers have been drawn into a group with pairings from Thailand, India and the Netherlands, so they are unlikely to be seriously challenged until at least the quarterfinals.
Defending London Olympic gold medalists and world No. 3 pair Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei were not picked to play for China in Rio, so second-ranked Tang and Yu and seventh-ranked Luo Ying and Luo Yu will provide the Chinese challenge.
Japan’s medal hopes in the women’s singles lie primarily with Nozomi Okuhara, who is currently No. 6 in the world.
Okuhara punched her ticket to Rio after becoming Japan’s first female champion since Hiroe Yuki in 1977 at the All-England event.
But her pre-Rio preparations have been less than stellar after she was beaten in the quarterfinals in Indonesia and then was bounced in the first round of the Australian Open soon after.
“I’ve been playing in nothing but matches in the last two months and have not built up enough practice,” said Okuhara. “I want to prepare (for Rio) so I am not left with any regrets.”
As Japan’s best ranked remaining men’s singles player, world No. 25 Sho Sasaki will play in what is set to be his second and final Olympic Games.
“I think this will be my final Olympics so I want to close out with a strong showing,” he said.
Japan’s best hope of a medal on the men’s side comes in the shape of eighth-ranked doubles pair Kenichi Hayakawa and Hiroyuki Endo. But the pair’s recent results do not point to them being serious contenders.
The Badminton World Federation will be hoping that there will be no repeat of the farcical scenes witnessed at the London 2012 tournament when four pairs in the women’s doubles were sensationally disqualified for deliberately trying to lose pool matches to secure easier draws in the knockout rounds.
The scandal, involving two South Korean pairs as well as teams from China and Indonesia, prompted a format change to ensure the same thing does not happen in Brazil.
==Kyodo
