More Sports Jan 4, 2021
Japan to skip Thailand Open as Momota tests positive for COVID-19
The world No. 1 was looking to make his international comeback in Bangkok after almost a year out following a car crash that left him with serious injuries.
More Sports Dec 27, 2020
Kento Momota wins Japan title to cap comeback after car crash
Badminton's top men's player held off a spirited challenge by Kanta Tsuneyama to claim his third straight national championship.
More Sports Dec 23, 2020
World badminton No. 1 Kento Momota earns win one year after car crash
Japan's Olympic gold-medal hopeful won his first competitive match since suffering a fractured eye socket after the Malaysia Masters in January.
More Sports Oct 19, 2020
Yuki Fukushima, Sayaka Hirota win all-Japanese final to claim title at Denmark Open
Fukushima and Hirota outlasted the back-to-back world champions to claim a 21-10, 16-21, 21-18 victory in 71 minutes.
More Sports Aug 19, 2020
Olympic badminton gold medalist Ayaka Takahashi retires due to lack of fire
While the vast majority of Olympic hopefuls are continuing on for the Tokyo Games, which have been postponed until 2021, Takahashi has decided she will not.
More Sports Aug 18, 2020
Takahashi, half of Japan's historic gold-winning partnership at the Rio Olympics, faced an uphill battle in qualifying for the now-postponed Tokyo Games.
More Sports Mar 16, 2020
Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota, the world's No. 3 pairing, were crowned women's doubles champions on Sunday at the All England Open badminton tournament, one of the few sporting events that went ahead amid the coronavirus pandemic. Later Sunday, in the last of the day's ...
More Sports Mar 15, 2020
Yuki Fukushima, Sayaka Hirota headed to women's doubles final at All England Open
Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota booked their place in the final of the All England Open Badminton Championships with a straight-sets win over Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo in an all-Japanese women's doubles semifinal on Saturday. The world No. 3 pair overwhelmed Takahashi and Matsutomo, ...
More Sports Mar 13, 2020
Akane Yamaguchi and Nozomi Okuhara have ensured their places at the Tokyo Olympics by advancing Thursday to the women's singles quarterfinals at the All England Open Badminton Championships. World No. 3 Yamaguchi beat compatriot Sayaka Takahashi 21-13, 21-15 in the round of 16, while fourth-ranked ...
More Sports Mar 1, 2020
India's badminton players urge extension of Olympic qualifying
Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal on Sunday urged the sport's world body to extend its Olympic qualification period as the spread of the coronavirus forces the cancellation or postponement of competitions. The German Open, which was to be held between March 3-8, has been canceled ...
More Sports Jan 17, 2020
Badminton world No. 1 Kento Momota discharged from Tokyo hospital
Kento Momota, the world's top-ranked men's badminton player, was discharged from a Tokyo hospital on Friday, four days after he was injured in a car crash in Malaysia. Other than three facial lacerations and bruising all over his body that had been diagnosed in Malaysia ...
More Sports Jan 15, 2020
Men's badminton world No. 1 Kento Momota returned to Japan on Wednesday after being injured in a car crash in Malaysia earlier this week. Momota left a hospital in Putrajaya, Malaysia's federal administrative capital, on Tuesday evening, according to a hospital source. He landed at Narita ...