Kento Momota

Kento Momota (桃田 賢斗) is a Japanese badminton player.

He has won several major badminton tournaments including two World Championships titles, two Asian Championships titles, and one All England title.

Momota's presence was increasingly visible as he took part in a bigger race, the 2011 World Junior Championships held in Taipei, Taiwan.

Even though Momota did not make it as a champion, it was a valuable lesson when he lost in the semifinal to the Malaysian Zulfadli Zulkiffli who came out as the 2011 World Junior Champion.

Towards the end of 2011, Momota began to compete with his seniors in the All Japan Badminton Championship or 2011 Japan National Championship.

Momota lost to Kenichi Tago in the final.

Even so, his performance was noticed by the Nippon Badminton Association (NBA).

Momota began to join the Japanese national team and was expected to become a future star.

Young Momota continued to learn from his defeats.

Learning from his mistakes in 2011, he avenged his defeat in 2011 by becoming 2012 Asia Junior Champion after defeating Malaysian representatives, Soong Joo Ven in two straight games, 21–13, 22–20.

In the same year, Momota also won the World Junior Championships held in Chiba, Japan.

Appearing at home, Momota managed to donate gold in public.

In the final round, he beat the mainstay of China, Xue Song through a very tight rubber game match.

Momota won 21–17, 19–21, 21–19.

The promising Momota prospect attracted the attention of the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation (NTT East), the badminton club of NTT East which finally succeeded in asking for his hand to join.

Momota participated in the 2012 Asian Junior Championships held in Gimcheon, South Korea.

Momota officially joined the club that raised its name since April 2013.

NTT East is the largest telecommunications company in Japan.

By joining the NTT East club, Momota was ready with the consequences of also working at the company.

Momota who was then 19 years old had begun to learn to manage time management in such a way.

He began to get used to dividing his time to work, practicing on the Japanese national team, and being active in his club.

In 2013, Momota who started the youth competition was sent to the International Challenge competition level.

Satisfactory results in the International Challenge tournaments in Europe.

Momota managed to emerge as champion in Estonia, Sweden and Austria.

Momota was immediately forged in a series of Grand Prix/Gold tournaments and even Superseries (Premiers) throughout 2013.

He won all his matches during Japan's maiden Thomas Cup victory in 2014, playing second men's singles behind Kenichi Tago.

He competed at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, as well as the 2016 Badminton Asia Team Championships in Hyderabad, India.

In 2015, he became the first Japanese player to win the Singapore Open.

By winning that title, he became the first Japanese player to successfully capture a Superseries in the men's singles and currently holds the record as the youngest Superseries champion in that category.

In the 2015 Sudirman Cup, he repeated his feat in Thomas Cup to help Japan secure a spot as a runner-up.

He once again made history in the 2015 BWF World Championships held in Jakarta.

He became the first Japanese player to win a medal in the men's singles of the prestigious tournament.

He made it to the semi-finals, before losing to Chen Long in straight sets.

Rounding off the year, he won the 2015 BWF World Superseries Finals in Dubai.

Momota returned to the Japanese national team at the end of 2017.

Momota has received a Guinness World Records certificate for "The most badminton men's singles titles in a season", for his achievements by winning 11 titles in the 2019 season.

Momota was born in Mitoyo, Kagawa Prefecture, and started playing badminton in the second grade of elementary school.

When he was in sixth grade he received his first title in the All Japan Elementary School Championship, winning the men's singles category.

Momota entered junior high school in Fukushima Prefecture, and during his third year he won the All Japan Junior High School Championship.

After graduating from junior high school Momota studied at Tomioka High School in Fukushima prefecture.