Recently, a Japanese character-themed documentary "Passionate Continent" was launched. This is a program that records representatives from all walks of life. They spent 4 months tracking and recording the life of Japan's number one badminton men's singles player Momota Kento. Gam

Recently, a Japanese character-themed documentary "Passionate Continent" was launched. This is a program that records representatives from all walks of life. They spent 4 months tracking and recording the number one Japanese badminton men's singles player Momota Kento. game and life. The starting record time of the program originated from the end of 2019 - at that time, Momota Kento won his 11th championship in the year-end finals in Guangzhou in a record-breaking manner, surpassing Malaysian star Lee Chong Wei . Subsequently, in early 2020, in Malaysia After winning his first championship of the new season, Momota's methodical preparation for the Olympics was disrupted by a car accident, and he was forced to put down his racket and return to his hometown to recuperate. Momota Kento in the camera shows the shy side of his ordinary life to the audience. From the king who swept thousands of troops on the field back to his ordinary quiet daily life, how is he doing? His life has also become the focus of many fans.

Staying at home and thinking about life

html In February, Kagawa County, Japan, was as leisurely and peaceful as usual. Although the weather was still cold, Kagawa County was already dyed with the tender green of early spring. 25-year-old Momota Kento has rarely had the opportunity to return to his hometown since he left his hometown in junior high school. This time, Momota Kento returned to his hometown in a different way. He underwent surgery for a fractured right eye socket and accepted the doctor's orders to go home and rest quietly.

Like other athletes, it is normal for Momota Kento to travel around the world and participate in various events. However, due to the surgery, recuperation, transition from activity to inactivity, and forced leave, it was not a good feeling for Momota Kento. "Recuperation is not as good as imagined." He is used to running around and sweating on the court, but he is firmly "locked" at home. The only "big exercise" he is allowed to do is eye rehabilitation exercises. This also left Momota Kento very idle, and his family also thought of many ways to help Momota Kento relieve his boredom. In addition to his parents, his sister also sent his two sons over. Although sometimes Momota Kento would complain about the two "little mythical beasts" being noisy, he would always come up with various ways to play with them.

Momota Kento's life has changed since he suffered a car accident. At the beginning, he could hardly see anything clearly. He said: "It was a huge blow at that time. I had complicated emotions and many thoughts. It was very uncomfortable to be depressed, let alone go to training." Physical injuries will slowly recover, but the psychological pressure is difficult to heal. Even after returning to his hometown, he still had never touched badminton. He said: "I am still a little scared to play now, worried that I will not be able to see the ball clearly."

"When I am sleeping, I occasionally think about it. What should I do if I can't recover? I find that I can't do anything else except badminton." Leave. Momota Kento, who had taken up badminton, suddenly felt that it was extremely difficult for him to do other things. "Sure enough, I still know nothing." For him, the current experience is unprecedented. After all, he has spent more than half of his life, They spend every day holding the racket and running around the court.

The days spent at home with nothing to do made Momota Kento a little confused. "Although I am not sure whether I can return to the past, I still want to see my energetic game as soon as possible." Momota Kento, who is afraid of loneliness, misses Tokyo. Life: "I want to train like crazy, sweat like crazy, and eat with my teammates as usual after training." These seemingly normal daily routines make Momota miss him like crazy.

The forward momentum at the bottom of life

In the new season of Malaysia in 2020, Momota won the championship, which also showed his desire for the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics. But as fate would have it, on the morning of January 13, the day after winning the championship, Momota Kento rear-ended a large truck on the way to the airport. The driver died on the spot. Momota Kento and several other passengers were slightly injured and were sent to the hospital for examination. Later, Momota Kento's diagnosis results came out. The huge impact caused a broken nose, and his lip was also injured and required stitches.After Momota Kento came back to his senses, the first thing he said to Park Ju-bong, the head coach of the Japanese team who was accompanying him in the hospital, was: "Can I still play ball?"

After being discharged from the hospital, Momota Kento asked Coach Park Ju-bong Sent a long message. He said that things in the hospital were very hard for Coach Park. Such a big accident happened. Fortunately, his injuries were only of this extent. After he returns to Japan, he will discuss subsequent treatment and recovery plans with the Badminton Association, clubs, etc. He will calm down and make adequate preparations for his comeback. He also assured Coach Park that he would maintain good physical condition, treat his injuries seriously, and then continue to return to the team and work hard.

Three weeks after the accident, Momota Kento returned to the Japanese team's training ground. According to the memory of head coach Park Joo-bong, when Momota appeared at the training ground, the gym burst into applause from his teammates, and the male players even ran to hug Momota after a long absence. In Park Joo-bong's eyes, Momota Kento's return has injected vitality into the team. He is like a flag for the team, and the atmosphere and motivation of the whole team have changed.

However, bad luck still hasn’t left Momota Kento. After resuming training, he obviously felt something was wrong with his right eye. After another re-examination, it was found that the eye socket was fractured, and Momota immediately performed emergency surgery. After the operation, he needed a quiet environment to recover, so Momota returned to his hometown to rest. This was the first time in a long time since he graduated from elementary school that he stayed at home for so long.

After the accident, Momota Kento received support from all directions and also received many letters from elementary school students. He said that when he read these letters, he cried alone in his room. Although the child's handwriting and words are still very immature, these pure words are quite precious to him. I hope that no matter when I encounter any difficulties, I will face the challenges with this pure heart. Momota Kento said that now he feels that he has reached the bottom of his life, and then he only needs to think about how to move forward bravely.

"Superman" is looking forward to upgrading

"The Continent of Passion" recalled the grand occasion when Momota won the title of the World Badminton Federation's Best Male Player of the Year with 11 crowns last year. Momota Kento once said: "Although from the results, I won 11 A championship, but the process of winning was not overwhelming. From the perspective of controlling the rhythm of the game, I was still a little reluctant, and this result also had some luck. "He believes that the gap between himself and his opponents is not that big. big. In other words, in Momota Kento's mind, an overwhelming victory should be winning the game with ease and without haste.

Momota Kento joined the NTT East Badminton Club after graduating from high school. The NTT Badminton Club training hall witnessed Momota Kento’s step-by-step growth. NTT East Japan head coach Takahiro Suga said that Momota Kento is a very rigorous person, whether it is badminton or other things. "For him, although he cannot be said to be afraid of rest, he is at least preparing seriously for the next game every day. What's more, Momota Kento is a person who likes badminton very much and is often thinking about playing. "The vacation is undoubtedly a training for Momota."

html In mid-March, Momota Kento returned to Tokyo with renewed energy. During the interview, he discussed his injury days in more depth. "At that time, I thought about why this happened to me. I was unwilling and a little frustrated, and I had to start from scratch again." Immediately after the car accident, Momota Kento deeply felt that everything he had accumulated was gone. Especially psychologically, it had a great impact on him. Although he knew what happened and there was nothing he could do about it, fortunately he had the motivation to come back. He said: "I now want to turn people's support into my own motivation to move forward."

Momota Kento is a shy person. He was shooting on the streets of Tokyo because passers-by kept greeting him and he felt a little embarrassed when he was stared at. He would whisper and urge us to leave quickly. However, this player who takes the initiative on the court with his decisive reaction ability seems to be in a dilemma in life.

Momota Kento likes to eat desserts, and usually prefers to eat gummy candies. In addition, he is also a two-dimensional youth who likes " One Piece ", " The Seven Deadly Sins ", " Black Clover ", etc. cartoon. He said: "I am the kind of person who has to finish it. If there is still something left to finish, I will feel itchy in my heart. Especially for the results, he is full of curiosity. This includes movies, and he especially wants to finish them before they are released. . Although some people can wait patiently after seeing the trailer, I am not like that. "

Momota, who has a very different personality on and off the field, has now returned to Tokyo. He had long made up his mind to move forward to meet the challenge. With the decision to postpone the Tokyo Olympics for one year, I believe that the player who is known as the closest to the gold medal will polish himself into a stronger "Superman" during a more sufficient buffer period.

Text/Badminton Magazine Organizing and Editing | Brother Feng