Momota wins 11th badminton title for record-breaking year

SHANGHAI: World number one Kento Momota fought back from a game down to win a record 11th title of the year on Sunday with victory at the BWF World Tour Finals.

The peerless Japanese player defeated Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting 17-21, 21-17, 21-14 in 87 high-quality minutes in the final at the season-ending showpiece in Guangzhou. Momota celebrates a new mark in men’s badminton, overtaking Malaysian great Lee Chong Wei’s 10 tournament wins in 2010.

“At this World Tour Finals I played carefully from the first match partly with the aim of winning an 11th title,” the 25-year-old Momota said.

“Even in tough games I did not give up.” Momota was pushed all the way by the speedy Ginting and the Japanese fell 12-5 down in the deciding third game to the world number eight.