JAKARTA Badminton player from Japan, Kento Momota, will retire from international badminton after the 2024 Thomas Cup.
The two-time world champion, who has lost his place at the 2024 Paris Olympics, will face Japan for the last time in the Thomas Cup from April 28 to May 5, 2024.
He will only appear in domestic competitions in Japan after the men's team event and will never take part in the BWF World Tour again.
"I made this decision because I feel like I have reached physical and mental limits in an effort to return to being the best in the world," the former world number one was quoted as saying by The Straits Times.
Momota was once the king of badminton when he was at the top of the BWF rankings. He won 11 titles in 2019 and only lost six times to 73 matches he played in that year.
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His career then decreased drastically in January 2020 when the vehicle that took him to Kuala Lumpur airport had an accident. It happened a few hours after he won the Malaysia Masters.
The driver died and Momota needed surgery to repair his cracked eye socket. After that, he suffered double vision and struggled to get back to his previous performance.
"I realized that I could no longer return to the point where I aim to be number one in the world again," said Momota.
His efforts to bounce back were marked by defeats in the first round of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. After that, he even lost in the first round in four of the first five tournaments participated in the following year.
Momota, who was involved in the gambling scandal at the start of his career and was banned from participating in the 2016 Rio Olympics qualifiers, was actually still able to end his two-year title drought by winning the Korea Masters in November 2023.
He then targeted to appear at the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, his national ranking was not good enough to give him a place in the Japanese team.
"I have a very satisfying career playing for the national team. Now, I want to get involved in helping everyone find pleasure in sports," he said.
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