13 people including Kento Momota, the representative of Tokyo Olympic badminton

A total of 13 players, including Japanese ace Kento Momota, have been appointed as representatives of the Tokyo Olympic badminton.

Initially, the Nippon Badminton Association was planning to announce a representative offer on the 25th of this month when the list of participants of the Tokyo tournament officially arrived from the World Badminton Federation, but hurriedly on the 18th due to the arrival of the list ahead of schedule. , Announced 13 representative players.

In the men's singles, Momota, who is number one in the world, and Kanta Tsuneyama, who is number 13 in the world, have both been nominated as the first Olympic representatives.

In the women's singles, Nozomi Okuhara, who is third in the world, and Akane Yamaguchi, who is fifth in the world, have both been nominated for the second time following the previous Rio de Janeiro Games.

In the men's doubles, a pair of Hiroyuki Endo and Yudai Watanabe, who is ranked 4th in the world, a pair of Keigo Sonoda and Takeshi Kamura, who is ranked 5th in the world, and a pair of Yuki Fukushima and Ayaka Hirota, who is ranked 1st in the world in women's doubles. The pair of Wakana Nagahara and Mayu Matsumoto, who have won the world championship for the second time in a row in 2nd place in the world, have both been nominated as the first representatives.

Also, in the mixed doubles, Watanabe and Arisa Higashino, who were nominated as representatives of the men's doubles, were nominated as the first representatives in the world.

Following the offer, the representatives will hold an online press conference on the 2nd and 3rd of next month.

Kento Momota

Kento Momota is 26 years old from Kagawa prefecture.

It is a Japanese ace who has been ranked number one in the world ranking since September 2018 in men's singles.

His characteristic is to hunt down opponents with accurate shuttle control from a solid defense, and he showed overwhelming strength to win 11 international tournaments including consecutive championships in the world championships.

However, immediately after that, in Malaysia, which was visited at the competition in January 2020, he was involved in a traffic accident and broke his right eye. The return was delayed.

Due to the influence of the new Corona, only two tournaments were able to participate in the return to the competition, and it was the only international tournament, and at the British Open in March, it was uneasy to lose the third round.

We will aim for the gold medal of long-cherished desire with the words of "giving back" to show gratitude to the people who supported the return, how far we can show the appearance of resurrection at the Tokyo Olympics even though we could not easily experience the actual battle.

Kanta Tsuneyama

Kanta Tsuneyama is a 24-year-old from Shiga prefecture and is ranked 13th in the world ranking of men's singles.

He is a trickster technician who combines shots that shift the timing and follow the course, and also has a sharp cross smash.

At the international tournament during the national team selection period, he won the Olympic team by winning one by one, such as winning straight against the gold medalist Chinese player of the previous Rio de Janeiro tournament at the test tournament of the Tokyo Olympics, and raising Venus. I grabbed it.

Nozomi Okuhara

Nozomi Okuhara is a 26-year-old from Nagano prefecture, and the world ranking of women's singles is the third highest among Japanese in this event.

Okuhara is a small player with a height of 1 meter and 56 centimeters, but he has a tenacious play style that makes use of his light footwork to hit the opponent's ball.

I often suffered injuries due to the influence of my playing style, which is a heavy burden on my body, but at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, I won the bronze medal, which is the first medal for a Japanese player in this event, and at the 2017 World Championships. I won my first victory.

In 2020, we will make steady adjustments, such as winning all three domestic and international competitions that we participated in after the postponement of the Tokyo Games, and aim for the long-sought gold medal at the second Olympic Games.

Akane Yamaguchi

Akane Yamaguchi is a 24-year-old from Fukui prefecture and is ranked 5th in the world ranking of women's singles.

In 2018, he was the first Japanese player to become the number one player in the world in this event.

Yamaguchi is small with a height of 1 meter and 56 centimeters, but he also has a powerful jumping smash with a play style that outsmarts his opponent with a variety of shots and light footwork.

In 2012, he was the youngest third-year junior high school student in history and was selected to represent Japan for the first time. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, he lost to Nozomi Okuhara, who is two years older than him, in the quarterfinals and finished fifth.

We are competing with our rival Okuhara on the world stage, aiming for the long-sought gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota pair

The pair of Yuki Fukushima and Ayaka Hirota are both from Kumamoto prefecture, Fukushima is 28 years old and Hirota is 26 years old.

It is the first pair in the world ranking of women's doubles known by the nickname of "Fukuhiro" pair by taking the first name of the two surnames.

The strength of the "Fukuhiro" pair is that it has a tenacious play style, and you can quickly switch the front and back positions to turn both aggressively.

From 2017 to 2019, he won the second place in the world championships for three consecutive years, and this year he also won the second place in the latest international competition, the British Open, which was held in the United Kingdom in March.

The biggest rival is the pair of Wakana Nagahara and Mayu Matsumoto, who are the same Japanese national team and second in the world, and there is a possibility that the final of the Japanese pair will be at the Tokyo Olympics.

This event is expected to win the gold medal for the second consecutive tournament for the Japanese.

Wakana Nagahara and Mayu Matsumoto pair

Wakana Nagahara and Mayu Matsumoto are both 25 years old from Hokkaido, and are the second-ranked women's doubles in the world ranking, nicknamed the "Nagamatsu" pair, which is the acronym for the two surnames. ..

Nagahara is 1 meter and 70 centimeters tall, and Matsumoto is 1 meter and 77 centimeters.

In 2018, he was selected as a top-class representative of Japan, and won the world championship for the first time that year, and became one of the top pairs in the world at once.

We have won the Otoshi World Championship in a row and are making good adjustments toward the Tokyo tournament.

The biggest rival is the pair of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota, who are the same representatives of Japan and are number one in the world, and there is a possibility that the final between the Japanese pairs at the Tokyo Olympics.

This event is expected to win the gold medal for the second consecutive tournament for the Japanese.

Keigo Sonoda and Takeshi Kamura pair

The pair of Keigo Sonoda and Takeshi Kamura is 31 years old and is the 5th place in the world ranking of men's doubles.

Sonoda is from Kumamoto prefecture and has a strong smash, mainly in the back position.

Kamura is from Saga prefecture and will take the previous position and assemble the match.

The two paired up in junior high school and made a mark in high school as a whole, but after graduating, they disbanded once to pursue their respective career paths.

After that, I made a pair again with a businessman based in Toyama prefecture and grabbed the long-awaited participation in the Olympics.

Both of them are 1 meter and 69 centimeters tall, which is smaller than the world's strongest pair, but they have won the drive battle to attack the height of the net with a fast shuttle.

In the 2018 World Championship, he defeated the world's No. 1 pair and won, winning the silver medal, which is the best result of the Japanese team in this event.

We aim to win medals at the Tokyo tournament as well.

Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe pair

Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe are the highest pair of men's doubles in Japan, ranking 4th in the world.

Endo is 34 years old from Saitama prefecture and Watanabe is 24 years old from Tokyo. It is a feature that experienced veterans and young people with outstanding physical abilities bring out each other's strengths.

The two play styles that take control of the game from a solid defense, and are characterized by skillful bargaining with slow and fast movements and shots aimed at the course.

Endo won the 5th place in the previous Rio de Janeiro tournament in a pair with Kenichi Hayakawa, who is currently the coach of the Japan national team.

After the tournament, he paired up with Watanabe to start a new career for the Tokyo Olympics, and in March he won the British Open, which has received a lot of attention among international tournaments.

At the Tokyo Olympics, we aim to win the first Japanese medal in this event.

Watanabe will also be nominated as a representative in the mixed doubles paired with Arisa Higashino, aiming to win a medal in the second event.

Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino pair

Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino are both 24 years old and are ranked 5th in the mixed doubles world ranking.

Watanabe is from Tokyo and has a variety of shots with speed and slowness that make use of his high physical ability such as jumping power.

Higashino is from Hokkaido and has the advantage of aggressive play.

Although they are young, they have been paired since junior high school, making the best use of their outstanding combination, and in March they also won the second championship at the traditional international tournament British Open.

We will improve our play before the Tokyo tournament and aim to win Japan's first medal in this event.

Watanabe will also be nominated as a representative in the men's doubles paired with Hiroyuki Endo, aiming to win a medal in the second event.