LAND OF THE RISING STARS
ALL eyes will be on Japan’s Kento Momota and Co in the Malaysia Open starting today as badminton’s rising power gear up for next year’s Olympics.
CALL it the wind of change but one cannot help but think that Japan will dominate badminton at next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games.
Since clinching their maiden Thomas Cup crown in 2014 (New Delhi), Japan have been building up a squad so strong, it’s almost impossible to see them performing otherwise on home soil.
This is no myth as even the great Poul Erik Hoyer, Badminton World Federation (BWF) president, was reported to have tipped the Land of the Rising Sun to fire on all cylinders next year.
Japan have not only produced world champions in the form of Kento Momota (men’s singles), Nozomi Okuhara (women’s singles), and Mayu MatsumotoWakana Nagahara (women’s doubles) but also have formidable players in other events.
Let’s also not forget 2016 Rio Olympic Games gold medallists Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahasi, who are just one of the four women doubles, ranked among the top 10 in the world.
In fact, a quick check on the world rankings will show how strong Japan is right now.
In the men’s singles, apart from World No 1 Momota, two other shuttlers, Kenta Nishimoto and Kanta Tsuneyama are ranked within the top 15 bracket, while in the women’s singles, Nozomi is No 3, followed by Akane Yamaguchi (No 4) and Sayaka
Takahashi (No 11).
In the men’s doubles, last year’s World Championships runner-up Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda are ranked third, while Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe are No 5.
Watanabe has also proven to be a specialist in mixed doubles as he and his All England (2018) winning partner Arisa Higashino are World No 3.
Japan’s chief coach Park Joo Bong is definitely the architect behind this sudden rise, but the South Korean legend, who has been with the Nippon Badminton Association for 15 years is still modest in his approach.
In recent months, Joo Bong has also roped in three Malaysian coaches to see through his plan coming good in Tokyo next year.
In 2017, Jeremy Gan left the BA of Malaysia (BAM) to take charge of the mixed doubles department before Lee Wan Wah was handpicked to help develop the boys’ junior squad.
The latest edition is Tan Kim Her, who quit the India BA recently, to spearhead the men’s doubles department.
The Malaysia Open starts today at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil and it would be good to see just how strong this Japan team are.
For the record, China are the most successful nation in badminton at the Olympics with an overall haul of 18-8-15 since the 1992 Barcelona edition, followed by Indonesia (7-6-6) and South Korea (6-7-6). Japan have a haul of 1-1-1, while Malaysia have won six silver and two bronze.