Kaleidoscope 2024: World Top Badminton Player Retires This Year

JAKARTA A number of world badminton stars decided to retire in 2024. They hung up their racket after achieving various astonishing achievements.

Among the names who retired this year, the saddest was the Japanese men's singles, Kento Momota. The former world number one pulled over after the Thomas Cup in May 2024.

Momota, one of the most talented men's singles players after the Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei era, ended his career in badminton without winning the highest Olympic gold medal.

He was unlucky and had to miss his first Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016. At that time, he was banned from playing in this four-year important event because he was caught in an illegal gambling case.

Unfortunately then happened to him during the Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, in 2021. The accident in early 2020 made Momota unable to play optimally for his country.

However, Momota was still able to enjoy two gold medals at the World Championships in 2018 and 2019. This title actually escaped the best men's doubles during that period, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.

Marcus/Kevin are among the famous names who decided to retire in 2024. The pair also closed their careers without ever tasting an Olympic gold medal.

On the other hand, Zheng Siwei managed to leave badminton after successfully achieving all his dreams. Huang Yaqiong's partner in this mixed doubles ended his career with a gold medal in Paris 2024.

Zheng chose to retire after the 2024 BWF World Tour Finals which took place in his country, China. His separation was sweet because he won the title in the tournament.

Another Olympic gold medalist who retired was a men's doubles specialist from China Taipei, Lee Yang. Lee retired after defending the Olympic gold medal in Paris.

Despite a less striking success at the BWF World Tour, Lee and Wang Chi Lin managed to record themselves as the first men's doubles pair to win the Olympics in a row.

Apart from Momota, several Japanese players also retired in 2024. One of them is the two-time world champion, Wakana Nagahara, part of the Japanese golden generation who had won the dominance of women's doubles from China.

In addition, the women's singles Aya Ohori also decided to retire. This left-handed badminton player chose the 2024 BWF World Tour Finals as the end of his career.

Other players from Japan who hang up their rackets are Kanta Tsuneyama, Akira Koga, and Taichi Saito. Tsuneyama is the French champion of Open 2021 after defeating Chou Tien Chen in the final.

From China, several names have also decided to close their careers this year with Zheng Si Wei. They are He Bing Jiao, Liu Yu Chen, Ou Xuan Yi, and Tan Qiang.

Another name that also bid farewell to the badminton world was Thailand's women's doubles, Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai. The pair left with the Uber Cup silver medal achievement in 2018 as the most memorable moment.