Rio beckons Dubai champion
Japanese Okuhara targets Olympic gold
Japanese badminton sensation Nozomi Okuhara was trying to balance her objectives for 2016 after winning the women’s singles at the seasonending BWF Dubai Superseries Finals yesterday, but conceded that an Olympic medal was her ultimate goal.
This was before Kento Momota completed a singles sweep for Japan at the Hamdan Sports Complex when he crushed Denmark’s Viktor Axelson, the vanquisher of world number one Chen Long in the semi-finals. Momota won 21-15, 21-12 in just 38 minutes.
The road to Rio is long and demanding but Okuhara, who defeated China’s Wang Yihan, a former world champion and Olympic silver medallist 22-20, 21-18, is primed to embark on a journey that she hopes will culminate in her making history as the first Japanese woman to win the gold at the planet’s biggest sporting event.
“I will keep trying to do my best and I expect to raise my game to a higher level,” said the 20-year-old from the Nagano prefecture, who missed a year on the tour due to a knee injury.
“Obviously I will like to come back here to defend my title, but my 2016 goal will be to win a medal at the Olympic Games.”
Unbelievable feat
Although she remained controlled and emotionless during her 63 minute encounter with Wang, who beat her twice this year at the All England Championships and at the Korean Open, but who lost to her in the French Open, the occasion washed over her as she dropped to the court and shed tears of joy.
“I couldn’t help myself. I’m very happy because I didn’t think I could do this,” she said. “I’ve been through so many hard moments but this is what we work so hard for.
“I like to have more goals but I also don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. It’s not easy on the tour, the rivals are getting tougher and you have to work hard harder to stay on top.
“All I hope and wish for is to improve a little every year and to become a better player.”
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Okuhara had already sent out an ominous message to her rivals in the top echelon by not dropping a single game in the five matches that she played at the Dubai Superseries finals. Wang Yihan defended her defeat and contended that she played well but was at times careless during the final stages of both games.
“I made too many unforced errors at crucial moments in the game and I think that really cost me,” said Yiyan, 27, who is an only child and credits her mother for launching her badminton journey.
Okuhura’s compatriot Momota had it a bit easier in his final. “I watched Axelsen yesterday and he played close to perfect,” he said. “I had a specific strategy against him and it worked. I felt I was lucky on a few points.”
Axelsen admitted that his semi-final win over Chen had drained him ahead of yesterday’s final “I used up a lot of my mental energy yesterday and I probably didn’t have enough today. My legs felt heavy. I was just not good enough. I used a lot of my mental power against Chen and it cost me a lot.”
Okuhara had already sent out an ominous message to her rivals in the top echelon by not dropping a single game before.