Japan's Kento Momota hits a shot to South Korea's Heo Kwang-hee in their men's singles badminton group stage match during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo on 28 July 2021.
Japan's Kento Momota hits a shot to South Korea's Heo Kwang-hee in their men's singles badminton group stage match during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo on 28 July 2021.
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Japan's Olympic badminton top seed Momota out in first round

AFPTokyo

Japan's badminton world number one Kento Momota lost in the first round at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday, a day after Japanese tennis superstar Naomi Osaka also crashed out.

Unseeded South Korean Heo Kwang-hee beat Momota 21-15, 21-19, ending the favourite's bid for the gold medal after just two games.

Momota was appearing in his first Olympics, having been banned for gambling in an illegal casino just months before the 2016 Rio Games.

He was almost forced to retire last year after a car crash that left him with career-threatening injuries. Momota won a record 11 titles in 2019, losing just six of the 73 matches he played that year.

South Korea's Heo Kwang-hee hits a shot to Japan's Kento Momota in their men's singles badminton group stage match during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo on 28 July 2021.

But his bid for Olympic gold on home soil ended quickly, with Heo sinking his hopes in just 52 minutes.

Momota smiled incredulously as his shots failed to find their range early in the game, but looked ashen-faced when it became clear that he was in serious danger.

He sealed his own fate when he hit the net to end the match. Momota's early exit follows similar upsets for high-profile Japanese athletes, including tennis player Osaka and gymnast Kohei Uchimura.

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