29-year-old former world champion Kento Momota announced on Thursday that he was retiring from badminton, citing mental and physical issues amid a lean patch at the highest level. The former World No. 1 confirmed that he will not represent his country again after the Thomas and Uber Cup, scheduled to be held in Chengdu in China from April 27.
Kento Momota acknowledged that he has not been able to get back to the level he was playing before his near-fatal car accident in 2019. Momota won the World Championships title in 2018 and 2019, a glorious year in which he won as many as 11 titles on the tour. However, ever since his return to action in the following year after recovering from injuries, Momota managed to win only 3 titles. Momota last played in the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Shah Alam in January before which he failed to qualify for the main draw at Indonesia Masters.
“Since the accident in January 2020, there was a lot of hardship,” Kento Momota said on Thursday, as quoted by Olympics.com.
“I tried so many things but I just couldn’t close the emotional, physical gap between who I used to be and who I am. I felt I couldn’t become world No. 1 again. I had eye surgery and I was seeing double. I couldn’t move on the court the way I wanted to, I’d get tired like I never used to. I tried. But I just felt it was no longer possible to keep up with the world’s best players.
“I couldn’t play badminton the way I wanted to,” he added.
Kento Momota failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics before the cut-off time as he is ranked 52 in the men’s singles charts.
Momota made his Olympic debut in his hometown in Tokyo in 2021, where he suffered an early exit. He missed the Rio Games in 2016 after being suspended for gambling.