Tokyo: The Nippon Badminton Association announced on Friday that World No. 16 Kento Momota will not participate at the 2023 Malaysia Open scheduled to kick off at the Axiata Arena, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from January 10 to January 15, 2023, citing the former World No. 1 suffering with flu-like symptoms in the past few days.
However, Momota who won the All Japan Championships title at the end of 2022 will be competing at the India Open which will be held in New Delhi from Jan 17 to Jan 22. The Nippon Badminton Association didn’t say anything about Momota’s participation at the Indonesia Masters (Jan 24 to Jan 29), but his name still can be seen in the Indonesia Masters draw.
Daren Liew from Malaysia will take over Momota’s vacated spot at the 2023 Malaysia Open, and will meet Toma Junior Popov of France in the first round.
Meanwhile, Japan’s two-time women’s doubles world champions (2018, 2019) – Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara had to pull out of the first three tournaments of the year (Malaysia Open, India Open, and Indonesia Masters) due to Nagahara’s foot injury.
The 2023 Malaysia Open has been upgraded from a BWF World Tour Super 750 level to a Super 1000 tournament. It offers total prize money of USD $1,250,000.
