Daihatsu Yonex Japan Open 2018
The Japan Open is a very prestigious tournament, centered around the age-old and respected sport of Badminton. Typically, only the best players of Badminton are allowed admission into the rosters for this tournament. While this annual tournament is part of the BWF series of Tournaments, this year it is part of the 2018 BWF World Tour.
There is a significant rise in the challenge present in the Tournament this year, as it is now a ‘Super 750’ event. Mirroring the increase in challenge, the prize money has also been increased to the whopping amount of 700,000 dollars. The venue of the Tournament has been changed to the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza, which is famed as a quite difficult field, and is, incidentally, going to be used for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, a fact that has turned the whole of the Japan Open Tournament into a giant stage to determine which of the players get to advance to the almost holy level of Olympic sportsman. The 2018 Japan Open is also known by the name of DAIHATSU YONEX Japan Open 2018, taking place from 11 September to 16 September 2018.
Men’s Single:
Final:
Kento Momota | 21 | 21 |
Khosit Phetpradab | 14 | 11 |
Top Half:
Section 1: (Quarterfinal)
V Axelsen | 21 | 21 |
A s Ginting | 17 | 15 |
Section 2: (Quarterfinal)
Kento Momota | 21 | 21 |
Lin D | 8 | 10 |
Bottom Half:
Section 3 (Quarterfinal)
S Kidambi | 21 | 16 | 18 |
Lee D-k | 19 | 21 | 21 |
Section 4 (Quarterfinal)
Chen L | 19 | 22 |
K Phetpradab | 21 | 24 |
Women’s Single:
Finals:
Nozomi Okuhara | 19 | 21 | 11 |
Carolina Marin | 21 | 17 | 21 |
Also Read: How to Participate in Badminton Tournament at Different Levels |
Top Half:
Section 1: (Quarterfinal)
Chen XX | 17 | 16 |
N Okuhara | 21 | 21 |
Section 2: (Quarterfinal)
Gao FJ | 14 | 12 |
A Ohori | 21 | 21 |
Bottom half
Section 3: (Quarterfinal)
C Marin | 21 | 21 |
R Intanon | 18 | 19 |
Section 4 (Quarterfinal)
Chen YF | 21 | 15 | 21 |
A Yamguchi | 13 | 21 | 15 |
Men’s Doubles:
Final:
Marcus Fernaldi Gideon
Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo |
21 | 21 |
Li Junhui
Liu Yunchen |
11 | 13 |
Top Half: (Quarterfinal)
Section 1:
M f Gideon
K s Sukamuljo |
21 | 17 | 21 |
J mass
R Tabeling |
10 | 21 | 14 |
Section 2: (Quarterfinal)
T Hoki
Y Kobayashi |
21 | 19 | 15 |
He JT
Tan Q |
18 | 21 | 21 |
Bottom half:
Section 3: (Quarterfinal)
Chen H-I
Wang C-I |
21 | 21 |
Kim W-h
Seo S-j |
17 | 19 |
Section 4: (Quarterfinal)
F Alfian | 20 | 21 | 14 |
Li JH
Liu YC |
22 | 18 | 21 |
Women’s Double:
Final:
Yuki Fukushima
Sayaka hirota |
21 | 21 |
Chen Qingchen
Jia Yifan |
15 | 12 |
Top half:
Section 1: (Quarterfinal)
Y fukushima
S hirota |
21 | 21 |
J Kititharakul
R Prajongjai |
12 | 7 |
Section 2: (Quarterfinal)
G Polii
A rahayu |
19 | 21 | 21 |
G stoeva
S Stoeva |
21 | 17 | 12 |
Bottom half:
Section 3: (Quarterfinal)
Tang JH
Yu XH |
11 | 15 |
Chen QC
Jia YF |
21 | 21 |
Section 4:
M Matsumoto
W Nagahara |
16 | 10 |
Du y
Li YH |
21 | 21 |
Also Read: Lakshya Sen – The rising champion of Indian Badminton |
Mixed Double:
Final:
Zheng Siwei
Huang Yaqiong |
21 | 21 |
Wang yilu
Huang Dongping |
19 | 8 |
Top Half:
Section 1: (Quarterfinal)
Zheng Sw
Huang YQ |
21 | 21 |
Zhang N
Li YH |
10 | 13 |
Section 2: (Quarterfinal)
Chan P s
Goh L y |
21 | 20 | 21 |
P Jordan
M d Oktavianti |
19 | 22 | 17 |
Bottom half;
Section 3: (Quarterfinal)
T Hoki
K Yonemoto |
9 | 12 |
Y watanabe
A Higashino |
21 | 21 |
Section 4: (Quarterfinal)
Goh S H
S J lai |
18 | 6 |
Wang YL
Huang DP |
21 | 21 |
The Japan Open Badminton Title was secured by Japan’s Kento Momota, a player of great repute and some controversy. His final opponent was the Thai sportsman Khosit Phetpradab, who was defeated thoroughly by Momota with the awesome score of 21-14, 21-11. Since he was the final (and greatest) obstacle in Momota’s path to the Title, after defeating him Momota went on to win the Japan Open Badminton Title, on 16th September 2018.
The 24-year-old was overjoyed with his victory, falling to his knees and paying his respect to the Japanese emblem on his playing shirt. To everybody, his recovery from a brush with gambling that had almost ended his career was well underway.
Momota, who had earlier been kicked off the Japanese Team for the 2016 Rio Olympics, and forbidden from sports for a year for visiting an illegal gambling house (the scandal of which would surely harm both him and his team) had flunked out of the Asian Games only a month ago, and was reported to be very distraught and irritated with himself.
One has to admit that Momota worked hard for the Title. He beat China’s two-time Olympic sportsman Lin Dan in the quarterfinals and went on to defeat the best seed Viktor Axelsen in the last four, feats after which his playing skill was proven to be one (if not the) of the best. Many people had expected him to win this Tournament, and Momota did not disappoint his fans.
The Winner of the Japan Open Single Ladies’ Title was Olympic Champion Carolina Marin. She was one of the fan favorites for winning the tournament since she had previously won an Olympic Title and secured high positions in many other prestigious championships. She beat beloved player Nozomi Okuhara, one of the best, with the score of 21-19, 17-21, 21-11.
An Outperforming Indian in The Japan Open
India’s best Badminton player, Kidambi Srikanth was present in this tournament. Kidambi was at his absolute peak in late 2017, as he won either the First Place or high positions, in many tournaments like the BAF Tournaments and others. After securing a whopping four Super-series titles and one runner-up spot in another Super-series, all in a single season, the AP local has been trying to re-ignite the fire that made him one of the best players of yesteryear, one of the most respected Indians and a force to be feared in the battlefield of Badminton
Also Read: Top 7 Best Indian Badminton Players of all Time |
On Friday, Srikanth, the No.8th player in the World, went down to the South Korean Player, Lee Dong Keun, a surprise entry in the field of professional badminton. Reportedly, a leg injury that Srikanth had sustained at the French Open, had been acting up for some time, and that combined with Keun’s good playing style resulted in a loss for Srikanth.
The 21-19, 16-21, 18-21 defeat of Srikanth was an unmistakable warning that the talented Indian should get some more practice, and keep his game up. In the event that Srikanth becomes an Olympic contender in the Tokyo Olympics (which are just a short two years away!) Srikanth must improve himself a lot, and show us that he truly is one of the best players in the world. The fact that Keun was able to defeat So Wan Ho, the most celebrated Badminton player from his own country, is a noticeable one, and one that speaks volumes of Keun’s capability.
Srikanth’s recent losses and the demotion in the world rankings, as a result, marked the fall of India in the 2018 BWF Tournament. The two other contenders from India, HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu, were both surprisingly beaten on Thursday (certainly a bleak day for India), by a set of rivals whom they should have been able to take in their sleep.
The Indian Players received fan support when HS Prannoy defeated Jonatan Christie, paying him back for Prannoy’s previous defeat at the hands of the talented Indonesian. The Kerala native defeated the famed Indonesian player, by a good but close score of 21-18, 21-17. Sadly for India, Prannoy was then destroyed by Christie’s kinsman, Ginting, by a discouraging score of 21-14, 21-17.