Beijing time today (27th), badminton Asian Championships men's singles first round competition, Momota Kendou 21-17, 17-21, 7-21 defeat to Indonesia's Waduyu was eliminated. In the three races participated in this year, Momota Kendou has already encountered a round trip in two stops. What happened to Kento Momota, who dominated the world's men's singles two and a half years ago, now?
Before the Asian Championships last week, he was full of hope to win the triple crown, and today in the first competition of the Asian Championships, he lost 1-2 to The Indonesian non-main player Waduyu, and the three races he participated in this year have encountered two stops of "one round tour", and Momota Kendou, who also dominated the world men's singles two and a half years ago, what is going on now?
Although the current Momota Kendou is no longer the Momota Kendou of 2019, everyone still lists him as the most powerful contender for the men's singles championship at this week's Badminton Asian Championships, not only because he is the number one seed in the men's singles, but also because no one knows whether the former king will make a comeback this time, after all, he still seems to have this strength, right?
But reality once again cruelly proves that the current Momota Kendou is really no longer the Momota Kendou in 2019, and he really can't go back. 21-17, 17-21, 7-21, this is the once-likely score of Momota Kendou, even against Axelsen, Chen Long, Shi Yuqi and other world-class players. But such a score really appeared on today's Momota Kendou, and the other party was just a nameless person who could not even rank in the main Indonesian force.
We can no longer use words such as "upset" and "shock" to describe Momota Kendou's defeat, because "one round trip" has even become his normal performance this year - the three tournaments he participated in, in addition to the all-Britain Open quarter-final loss to Malaysia's brother Li Zijia, the German Open and this Asian Championship are the first round of folding, it seems, see more, it is not strange.
Isn't that really strange? To know that in 2018, as soon as he returned to the high-level arena, Momota Kendou was refreshing, and after winning the Nanjing World Championships in one fell swoop, he became the new favorite of the world men's singles, and in 2019, he refreshed the record of 10 crowns previously set by Li Zongwei with 11 crowns in the season.
But after the brief arrival of this era, it passed away more quickly. Everything started with the car accident in early 2020. After climbing to the podium of the Malaysian Masters championship, Momota Kendou was in a car accident on the way to the airport, although his life was worry-free, but he had multiple contusions on his face and fractures of the nose bridge, and after returning to Japan, he found a fracture at the bottom of the eye socket. Inside, there are their own continuous surgeries and difficult recoveries, and outside, there is an epidemic that has put a rest in the world feather world.
Originally, everything turned out, Momota Kendou was going to return to the field in early 2021, but he was found to be infected with the new crown virus during the airport test before going to Thailand to compete, and his comeback was stranded again. In March of that year, he hurriedly returned to the Uk and stopped in the quarterfinals, and then the Tokyo Olympic Games lost to the unknown South Korean player Heo Youxi at his doorstep, and the group failed to qualify.
If it was the car accident and the new crown that prevented Momota Kendou from soaring in the Tokyo Olympics, would it be better to start all over again in the new Paris cycle? Not really. Su Cup semi-finals and finals have lost to Li Zijia, Shi Yuqi, Tang Cup quarterfinals once again lost to Xu Youxi, Momota Kendou is no longer the strongest scoring weapon of the Japanese team, the Danish Open lost to Axelsen to get the runner-up, the new king of the world men's singles has long been in Tokyo has changed hands.
Although the 2021 Indonesian Masters champion let Momota Kendou break the 22-month championship drought, but the performance of "inspiration" can not make Momota Kendou turn over, after the Indonesian Open still missed the quarterfinals, coupled with the worse results of this year's three races, Momota Kendou seems to have been unable to find the Yangguan Avenue with flowers and applause and peaks.
Is it because of car accidents and covid-19? Of course, the damage to physical function is largely irreversible and can only be recovered within a limited range, and the reason why Lin Dan has been able to dominate the feather court for many years has a lot to do with the fact that he has not suffered obvious injuries. But the car accident and the new crown are only inducements for Momota Kendou, and in such an unfortunate encounter, the subsequent psychological trauma may have a longer-lasting impact on him.
Originally the best candidate to win the Tokyo Olympic Games, because the accident came to an abrupt end, Momota Kendou's heart can not change, the technical recovery after the injury is on the one hand, psychological reconstruction is also another, and psychological reconstruction is a slow and long-term issue, it is difficult to achieve in a short period of time, the blow of the Tokyo Olympic Games has become another straw that overwhelms Momota Kendou.
If you can quickly find the state after the return to get the results, then the rapid accumulation of confidence is helpful to Momota Kendou to find the state he once was, but unfortunately, it has not been satisfactory to all parties, so that Momota Kendou can only fight more and more without self-confidence, losing to Axelsen, Li Zijia is still justified, but frequently lose to second- and third-rate players, so that Momota Kendou is so embarrassed.
Coupled with the increase of age, physical ability inevitably declines, in the face of the world's now popular offensive style of play Momota Kendou is difficult to overcome, the past commendable defense relies on strong physical fitness as a support, but now the physical ability is not enough to support his defense, the offense does not have a good means of scoring, so that in the game it seems to be stretched.
Momota kendo said that if the ideal state is 100, he only has 50 now, but now it seems that 50 has not been reached. He also admitted that now it is mainly a problem in mentality, it is difficult to get a championship, and it is difficult to find confidence as soon as possible, winning is the fastest way, but where is the victory?
Wen | Li Ting
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