Kento Momota Announces Retirement From Professional Badminton

Tokyo: Former world champion Kento Momota announced on Thursday that after completing the 2024 Thomas Cup Finals at the end of April 2024, he will retire from the Japan badminton national team and will not participate in international tournaments organized by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in the future. However, he will continue to participate in domestic tournaments as an active player and promote badminton activities. Momota admitted that the injuries he sustained in a car accident in Malaysia in January 2020 had caused him considerable pain during his recovery period.

(source: TheStar)

Momota stated that during his approximately 10-year tenure as a member of the Japanese national team, although most of the time was very challenging, but he did gain valuable experience and it was a very fulfilling period of his career.

When asked why he chose the Thomas Cup as his final international tournament, Momota explained that he has always enjoyed team events and had discussions with other players participating in the Thomas Cup. He expressed his desire to continue striving for excellence and he decided to compete in the team events because he wanted to share his experience with the current members of the Japanese Thomas Cup team.

“I hope to encourage and support our players at the Thomas Cup, so I chose team events instead of individual tournaments,” said Momota.

Momota suffered a severe car accident in Malaysia in January 2020, resulting in a fracture of his right eye socket, which also affected his professional career. Reflecting on the aftermath of the accident, Momota admitted, “Initially, I couldn’t help but wonder why it happened to me. To be honest, it was filled with difficulties and pain at that time, but I didn’t want to blame all the pain on the accident. Thanks to the support of those around me, I was able to persevere.”

Regarding the effects of eye surgery, Momota mentioned that his vision has not fully recovered after the operation, and he now feels fatigued during training sessions that he previously did not find exhausting before the accident. He also noted the difficulty of competing against top-level players worldwide.

Now that he will retire from the Japanese national badminton team, Momota, who has been competing abroad for many years, expressed his desire to obtain a driver’s license.

Momota had a remarkable season in 2019, winning 11 BWF World Tour titles in a single season, a historic achievement. He also won consecutive World Championships in 2018 and 2019. However, following the severe car accident in Malaysia in January 2020, his overall performance declined, leading to his elimination in the men’s singles group stage at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.