Sawt Falasteen - Ex-no.1 Momota wins first badminton title in two years

NYSE - LSE

RELX	-3.19%	40.17	$
NGG	-3.33%	83.15	$
BCE	-1.9%	21.62	$
AZN	-0.23%	186.43	$
RIO	0.68%	83.73	$
RBGPF	0%	75.17	$
GSK	-0.16%	50.33	$
BTI	-3.6%	60.89	$
CMSC	-0.35%	20.05	$
CMSD	-0.1%	20.15	$
BCC	-5%	70.24	$
BP	-0.38%	44.53	$
VOD	-2.37%	15.58	$
JRI	1.81%	11.63	$
RYCEF	0.3%	16.43	$

Ex-no.1 Momota wins first badminton title in two years / Photo: DAVID GRAY - AFP

Ex-no.1 Momota wins first badminton title in two years

SPORTS 12.11.2023

Fallen former world number one Kento Momota won his first badminton title in two years on Sunday with a victory over Japanese compatriot Koki Watanabe at the Korea Masters.

Text size:

Now ranked a lowly 52 in the world, Momota won 21-16, 21-15 against the world number 26 in the final in Gwangju.

The Korea Masters did not boast the very top players in the world but the title will be a huge boost to the 29-year-old Momota after a difficult few years.

Momota is a two-time world champion but his once brilliant career has been in freefall ever since a car crash in January 2020 in Malaysia.

The badminton ace was badly hurt and the driver of the vehicle he was travelling in killed.

He had won a record-breaking 11 titles in 2019, losing just six of the 73 matches he played and looking every inch a legend in the making.

But the crash left him with double vision and needing surgery on a bone near his eye.

His last title before Sunday was in Indonesia in November 2021.

L.AbuAli--SF-PST

Sawt Falasteen - Ex-no.1 Momota wins first badminton title in two years

Ex-no.1 Momota wins first badminton title in two years

Featured

Kyren Wilson and John Higgins reach International Championship snooker final

New Zealand and Tonga meet for place in Rugby League World Cup final

Italy face unbeaten South Africa in Turin Nations Championship match

Morrison says West Brom recovered after pressure from successive derby losses