ALL JAPAN – Okuhara gets maiden title

The All Japan Badminton tournament  was held from Dec 6th to 11th at Yoyogi Stadium N2 in Tokyo, and saw an unexpected victory from the new rising star in Japan: Nozomi Okuhara.

By Miyuki Komiya, Badzine Correspondent in Japan. Photos: Badmintonphoto (archives)

An unexpected player who had already made a name for herself this year in the Austrian International, Canada Open, and the World Junior Championships, Nozomi Okuhara (photo) got her first national title in women’s singles on Sunday.  She beat national team veterans Sayaka Sato in quarter-final and Minatsu Mitani in the semi-final.

Okuhara then grabbed the title without playing the final match because All England runner-up Eriko Hirose had to withdraw because of an injury.

“I didn’t expect that I would win the title. I entered this big tournament for the first time 3 years ago. I lost in first round then and watched the tournament as a spectator. I knew how hard it would be to be a winner in this tournament. So I didn’t expect to win one day here,” she said in a post-match interview. “I am not tall. So I let small players know that you have chance to get a win if you train hard.“

Kenichi Tago (photo) scooped his 4th title by beating Sho Sasaki in the final, while other winners of the tournaments were the favourites in their respective categories, except in the women’s doubles where youngsters Matsutomo/Takahashi beat their elder compatriots to clinch their maiden title as well.

Results:

Men’s singles
1. Kenichi Tago (4th consecutive title)
2. Sho Sasaki
3. Takuma Ueda, Shoji Sato

Women’s singles
1. Nozomi Okuhara (first time)
2. Eriko Hirose
3. Ai Goto, Minatsu Mitani

Men’s doubles
1. Noriyasu Hirata / Hirokatsu Hashimoto (3 consecutive)
2. Kenichi Hayakawa / Hiroyuki Endo
3. Shoji Sato / Naoki Kawamae,  Yoshiteru Hirobe / Kenta Kazuno

Women’s doubles
1. Misaki Matsutomo / Ayaka Takahashi (first time)
2. Mami Naito/ Shizuka Matsuo
3. Satoko Suetsuna/Miyuki Maeda, Mizuki Fuji / Reika Kakiiwa

Mixed doubles
1. Shintaro Ikeda / Reiko Shiota (first time)
2. Ryota Taohata / Sayuri Asahara
3. Kenta Kazuno / Yuko Kanamori, Takatoshi Kurose / Megumi Yokoyama</pre>