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S’pore Open men’s champ axed from tournament

SINGAPORE — Defending OUE Singapore Open men’s singles champion Kento Momota will not be defending his title at the US$350,000 (S$473,230) tournament which begins next week (April 12-17) at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Kento Momota of Japan. Photo: Getty Images

Kento Momota of Japan. Photo: Getty Images

SINGAPORE — Defending OUE Singapore Open men’s singles champion Kento Momota will not be defending his title at the US$350,000 (S$473,230) tournament which begins next week (April 12-17) at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The Japanese world No 4, and fellow Japanese shuttler Kenichi Tago, have been withdrawn from the tournament by the Nippon Badminton Association (NBA), tournament organisers announced on Thursday (April 7).

This was after it was reported that Momota, Tago and their other teammates from the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corp (NTT) club had admitted to gambling at an illegal casino in Tokyo.

The NTT had confirmed the players placed bets at an underground casino which was raided by police last year.

An NTT spokesman said: “We have verified the fact that both Tago and Momota visited the so-called illegal casino and gambled there.”

Rising star Momota had been drawn to meet China’s Wang Zhengming in the first round of the Singapore Open while one-time world No 3 Tago, who is now 65th in the BWF rankings, was scheduled to compete in the qualifying rounds.

Tournament organising chairman Ng Yoke Weng said on Thursday: “We have received the official withdrawal of both Kento Momota and Kenichi Tago from the Nippon Badminton Association. The withdrawal is due to the ongoing investigations of their involvement in illegal gambling and we are saddened by this incident as the two shuttlers are both very young and talented.

“We certainly hope they will be able to bounce back after this unfortunate incident. There should be no tolerance on gambling because it can jeopardise the integrity of the sport.”

Ng also assured badminton fans of top-class action at the Singapore Open.

Pointing to the presence of China’s two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan, who is making his return after a four-year absence, as well as two-time world champion and world No 1 Chen Long, he said: “Eight of the world’s top men’s singles players will be in town next week. There will be lots of exciting matches to look forward to.”

Besides being withdrawn from the Singapore Open, Momota, 21, and Tago, 26, are also facing the prospect of being kicked off Japan’s badminton team for the Rio Olympics in August. Japanese officials are set to hold an emergency meeting this weekend to decide what action to take.

NBA secretary general Kinji Zeniya had hinted to Japanese media on Thursday that it would adopt a zero-tolerance policy, saying it would be “probably impossible” for the players to represent Japan in Rio if the allegations were confirmed.

“They have a serious responsibility to society,” he said. “We must deal with this case strictly.”

According to Japan’s Sankei newspaper, an unidentified casino official claimed Momota and Tago — who won a record sixth national title in 2013 but was axed from the Japanese team last year for disciplinary breaches — “frequently” visited the illegal gambling parlour.

Gambling is largely illegal in Japan and the incident comes after a betting scandal in baseball that sent shockwaves through the country’s most popular sport, baseball, just as it is bidding for inclusion in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. People found guilty of gambling in Japan can face jail terms of up to five years.

If the NBA axes Momota from the national squad, it will be a major blow to Japan’s hopes of winning a medal at the Rio Games.

Momota became the first Japanese to win the Badminton World Federation Super Series Masters Final in December, as well as a world championship medal when he claimed bronze in Jakarta last August.

Meanwhile, Singaporean mixed doubles badminton pair Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Vanessa Neo pulled off a scalp at the Malaysia Open on Thursday when they stunned world No 7 Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto of Indonesia 21-19, 21-14 in the second round.

Their win at the Superseries Premier event not only sent them into Friday’s quarter-finals, where they will face China’s world No 1 pair of  Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei of China, but also earns them much-needed ranking points as they try to qualify for the Rio Olympics.

Christnanta and Neo are currently more than 10,000 points behind the next higher-ranked Asia pair, Thailand’s Bodin Issara and Savitree Amitrapai, but will earn at least 4,000 points from the Malaysia Open. The Thai pair are not competing in the event.

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