Kento Momota

Jayce October 28, 2024 5 1

Character Introduction

Kento Momota (Japanese: 桃田賢斗／ももたけんと Momota Kento, September 1, 1994), born in Mitutoyo, Kagawa Prefecture, is a Japanese badminton player specializing in men’s singles, and is currently a mainstay of the Japan National Badminton Team (A Team). He is Japan’s first World Champion, defending World Badminton Champion and the world’s top-ranked men’s singles player.

Momota was born in Sanno-machi, Mitutoyo-gun (now Mitutoyo City), Kagawa Prefecture, and graduated from Mitutoyo City Yoshitsu Elementary School. At the age of 13, he went to Fukushima Prefecture, where he studied at Tomioka Daiichi Junior High School in Tomioka-machi, as well as Tomioka Senior High School, a leading badminton school in the area, and at the age of 15, he won the All-Japan Junior Badminton Championships, and reached the record for the youngest player to appear at the All-Japan Championships when he was in his third year of junior high school.

Kento Momota was the first Japanese player to win the World Junior Badminton Championships in 2012 after winning the National High School Combined Sports Championships, the Asian Youth Championships and the World Youth Championships at the same time.

In 2013, after graduating from high school, Kento Momota joined the NTT East Japan Badminton Team and was selected for the Japan National Team, and began playing in adult tournaments, winning his first All-Japan Staff Badminton Championships that year. In January of that year, Momota defeated Finland’s Etu Heino 2-1 (20-22, 21-15, 21-15) in the men’s singles final of the Estonian International to win his first adult international tournament, and then won two international challenge tournaments in Stockholm, Sweden, and Austria before advancing to his first ever semi-final in the Super Series at the Premier Premier Premier Tournament in China at the end of the year, where he was 1-2 (20-22, 21-9, 6-6) and won his first ever Super Series title. The team was defeated by China’s Wang Wiming 1-2 (20-22, 21-9, 6-21) in the semi-finals of the China Premier Super Series at the end of the year.

In 2014, Kento Momota represented Japan in the Thomas Cup men’s team competition, ultimately helping Japan win the Thomas Cup for the first time.

In April 2015, Kento Momota in the Singapore Super Tournament all the way to beat Hong Kong’s Wei Nan, Chinese Taipei’s Zhou Tiancheng and Indonesia’s Simon Santoso advanced to the final, and ultimately defeated Hong Kong’s Eddie Hu 2-1 (21-17, 16-21, 21-15) to reap the individual’s first Super Series men’s singles title. Then in June, Kento Momota moved on to the Indonesia Premier Super Series and advanced to the final by defeating Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki, Eddie Wu, Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting and India’s Kashyap Parupalli. In the final, he turned back defending champion and Danish star Jane O. Jorgensen 2-1 (16-21, 21-19, 21-7) to win the title and collect his second career Superseries title.

In December 2015, Momota became the first Japanese badminton player to win the men’s singles title at the year-end finals when he defeated Denmark’s Anselmo Ansalon 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) in the Super Series Finals.

On April 7, 2016, Kento Momota, who was playing in the premier Malaysian badminton super tournament, abstained from the tournament and immediately left Malaysia because he was suspected of entering and exiting an illegal casino and was required to return to Japan to undergo a police investigation.On April 8, Momota and his predecessor, Kenichi Tien-er, held an apology press conference in Tokyo. Momota confessed that in Tian’s introduction, in October 2014 to January 2015, six times in Tokyo Sumida Ward illegal casinos to participate in DB, bets from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yen ranging from a total loss of more than 500,000 yen. April 10, the Japan Badminton Association convened an emergency council for Momota Kendo to formally deal with the issue. The association ultimately decided that he would not be recommended as a representative of the Japanese national team for the Rio Olympics, and that he would be expelled from the national team and banned indefinitely.On May 4, Momota was removed from the BWF world rankings.

After a ban that lasted more than a year, the Badminton Association of Japan decided to lift the penalty of the ban on May 15, 2017, based on a report from the NTT East Japan Badminton Team, to which Kento Momota belongs, that he had performed well.

In late April 2018, Kento Momota appeared at the Badminton Asia Championships in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, where he faced the tournament’s No. 3 seed and defending champion Chen Long of China in the final, defeating his opponent in 2 sets (21-17, 21-13) to become the first Japanese player to win the men’s singles title at the Asian Championships.

After climbing to sixth in the world rankings, Kento Momota entered the men’s singles event at the World Badminton Championships in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China, in late July 2018 as the sixth seed, and ended up becoming the first men’s singles champion from Japan in the 41-year history of the World Badminton Championships tournament, defeating China’s Shi Yuqi in the final in straight sets (21-11, 21-13) once again.

In the second half of 2018, Kento Momota became the first player from his home country to win the men’s singles title by winning the Japan Open in his hometown, and also advanced to the final of the China Open the following week, where he lost to Indonesia’s Kim Ting in straight sets (21-23, 19-21), but still reached the world No. 1 spot in the world rankings on September 27, 2018 with the points from the event, making him the first Japanese to achieve such a feat. He is the first Japanese men’s singles player to achieve this feat. In addition, Momota won the Super 750 Denmark Open and China Fuzhou Open twice and reached the semifinals twice (France, Hong Kong). With his excellent performance throughout the year, Momota surpassed the 100,000 world ranking points mark on November 15, becoming the third player to do so after Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long, and was seeded No. 2 for the BWF World Tour Finals in Guangzhou, China, where he was defeated by China’s Shi Yuqi by a 0-2 (12-21, 11-21) margin in the final, and was denied a second Finals title.

In 2019, Kento Momota won a total of 11 tournaments including the All England Badminton Open, Japan Badminton Open, World Badminton Championships, China Badminton Open, Korea Badminton Open, and Badminton World Federation Tour Finals. With his outstanding play, Kento Momota broke the badminton record of ten titles in a single season, previously held by Lee Chong Wei, and was selected as the 2019 WBF Male Athlete of the Year as well as being certified by Guinness World Records.

2020: After winning the 2020 Malaysian Badminton Masters on 12 January, Momota suffered head injuries in a car accident on Lombok Boulevard on the 13th before returning from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang District, Selangor, while the driver of the vehicle in which he was travelling died on the spot.

On 3 January 2021, Momota was diagnosed with COVID-19, and was expected to fly to Thailand to prepare for the Thailand Open, which began on the 12th, as his diagnosis also led to the cancellation of the entire team’s expedition.In 2021, he competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he was accidentally eliminated by Koh Kwan Hee during group qualifying for the men’s singles event.On 21 November, Kendo Momota was defeated in the men’s singles final of the Indonesia Badminton Masters, 2-0 ( 21-17, 21-11) over Anders Andonsson to collect his first title in 2021 and end a 22-month title drought.

At the 2023 Korea Badminton Masters, Kento Momota defeated China’s Lei Lanxi 2-0 (21:10 21:19) in the semi-finals to reach the final of the Superseries tournament after the Malaysia Open last July. He succeeded in winning the title after picking off teammate Hang Gui Watanabe 2-0 (21:16 21:15) in two sets in the final, breaking his 24-month long title drought on the BWF Tour following the Indonesia Masters in November 2021.

On 18 April 2024, Japanese star Kento Momota announced at a press conference in Tokyo that he would officially retire from international competition after the Tangyu Cup, and that his last match for Japan would be the Tangyu Cup Finals in Chengdu on 27 April.

World Ranking – Men’s Singles 76, Week 28, 2024

Olympic Points – Men’s Singles 52 , 32467 points

Finals Ranking – Men’s Singles 206, 430 points

Equipment Used

ASTROX 99 Pro, VOLTRIC Z-FORCE Ⅱ, ASTROX 99 Sapphire Navy, ASTROX 77 PRO, ASTROX 99, DUORA Z-STRIKE, AC-102C, ARCSABER 10, 75TH 65Z2, NANORAY Z SPEED Bright Orange