Shoji Sato defeated his former doubles partner Sunday to claim his third straight men's singles title at the badminton national championships.
Sato, who played in the Athens Olympics last year, downed Sho Sasaki 17-14, 15-2 in the final at Takarazuka municipal gymnasium in Hyogo Prefecture to win the third national title of his career.
In the women's singles final, Kanako Yonekura beat defending champion Eriko Hirose 11-8, 11-8 for her first title in five years and second overall.
In other action, Kumiko Ogura and Reiko Shiota came back from a set down to win the women's doubles title with an 11-15, 15-3, 15-7 over Aki Akao and Tomomi Matsuda. Shuichi Nakao and Shuichi Sakamoto downed Keita Masuda and Tadashi Otsuka 15-7, 15-10 in the men's doubles final.
The mixed doubles title went to Masuda and Miyuki Maeda, who beat Hajime Komiyama and Matsuda 15-4, 15-10.