PETALING JAYA: World No. 1 Kento Momota will probably be out to mark his long-awaited return in type by going for his third consecutive title within the Denmark Open from Oct 13-18.
The 26-year-old, who received the final two editions, is about to play in Odense after Japan confirmed their participation within the US$750,000 (RM3.13mil) occasion, the one match that is still within the schedule this 12 months.
Momota is just not the one star as Japan will head to Denmark with a full-strength facet.
The Japanese facet boast many prime 10 shuttlers, which embrace world No. 4 Keigo Sonoda-Takeshi Kamura and world No. 5 Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe in males’s doubles; Akane Yamaguchi (No. 3) and Nozomi Okuhara (No. 4) in girls’s singles, Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota (No. 1) and Wakana Nagahara-Mayu Matsumoto (No. 3) in girls’s doubles; and Watanabe-Arisa Higashino (No. 5) in combined doubles.
All eyes, nonetheless, will probably be on Momota, who will probably be making his first aggressive return after a nine-month hiatus.
He had missed the final two months of motion earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic hit in March as he was concerned in a highway accident a day after profitable the Malaysian Masters in January early this 12 months.
Momota can count on a stiff problem from the likes of world No. 2 Chou-Tien-chen of Taiwan and world No. 3 Anders Antonsen, who would be the residence favorite within the absence of Viktor Axelsen, who remains to be recuperating from a minor ankle surgical procedure.
Within the up to date entry listing revealed by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Friday, China have additionally withdrawn from the tournaments, which implies their reigning Olympics singles champion Chen Lengthy won’t make the journey.
Apart from China, the opposite prime nations skipping the meet are Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
No due to the spate of withdrawals from the Asian nations, many of the occasions within the Denmark Open will probably be made up by largely Europeans.
The combined doubles competitors, as an example, will function solely three Asian rivals within the 32-pair draw.
And because of these unprecedented circumstances, it’s a dream come true for the likes of unheralded Norwegian males’s doubles pair Vegard Rikheim-Torjus Flaatten, the world No. 139, who earned themselves a uncommon alternative of taking part in in a top-tier and profitable occasion.
