Badminton All Japan Women's Singles 3rd consecutive championship to Okuhara 2nd round

The first round of women's singles was held at the All Japan Championship, which decides the best badminton in Japan.

Nozomi Okuhara, who is aiming for the third straight victory, entered the tournament for the first time after the Tokyo Olympics, won straight and advanced to the second round.

The Badminton All Japan Championship is a tournament that also serves as a selection for next year's Japan national team members, and has been held at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza in Chofu City, Tokyo since the preliminary round on the 25th.

The tournament was held for the first time in two years with spectators, and on the 26th of the second day, the first round of women's singles was held.

Okuhara, who is ranked 5th in the world ranking and is aiming to win the tournament for the first time in a row, became the first tournament after the Tokyo Olympics, which was defeated in the quarterfinals, and played against Yuka Sarukawa, a second-year high school student.

Okuhara scored 21 to 11 by accumulating points, such as deciding a tough shot to reverse the opponent from the beginning of the first game.

In the second game, he scored points for 8 consecutive times and took 21 to 12, and won straight with a game count of 2 to 0 to advance to the second round.

Okuhara said, "I was half excited and half anxious in the game since the Olympics, but I was happy to be able to play against junior players. I thought that badminton was fun after a long time, and I can enjoy playing against young players after tomorrow. I wish I could. I'm not in perfect condition yet, so I want to do my best to do what I can do now. "

At the tournament, Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi, who won the gold medal at the men's doubles at the world championship held in Spain this month, and Akane Yamaguchi, who won the gold medal at the women's singles, are new to the new corona. I have not participated because I strengthened the border measures against the spread of the mutant virus "Omicron strain" and the waiting period after returning to Japan became longer.