Guangzhou: Japan’s World No. 1 came back from dropping the first set and was trailing by 5-12 in the decider to outclass Indonesia’s World No. 8 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 17-21, 21-17, 21-14 in the final of BWF World Tour Finals on Sunday.
This was also Momota’s 11th title of 2019, and was his second BWF end-of-year title as he defeated Viktor Axelsen in the final of 2015 edition in Dubai. With the victory, Momota has surpassed the retired Malaysian badminton legend, Lee Chong Wei who created badminton history in 2010 by winning 10 titles in a single season.
“I came into the tournament with the aim of winning my 11th title here, and I didn’t give up even when I was facing tough situation during games,” said the World No. 1 Japanese.
“Ginting was leading in the third set, and I was patient. When I realized he was having pain on his feet, I stayed calm to win the match,” said Momota.
“I respect Lee Chong Wei a lot, and I am very happy to be able to his record,” added Momota.
On the other hand, Ginting wasn’t so lucky as he was defeated in all five of his finals this year.
Despite disappointment in the men’s singles event, Indonesia finally succeeded in winning a title from the 2019 BWF World Tour Finals through World No. 2 men’s doubles pair Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan.
The Indonesian pair a.k.a “The Daddies”, managed to win two straight games with a score of 24-22 and 21-19 over the Japanese World No. 6 – Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe.
“We were very grateful for being given so many opportunities. Of course, winning the BWF World Tour Finals was beyond our expectations,” said Ahsan.
“Certainly grateful and happy, this year has been truly extraordinary for us. This was an outstanding end-of-year championship title for us,” said Setiawan.
“But after this, we must be better prepared for next year. And that’s more important for us,” added Setiawan.
The win was also the pair’s third World Tour Finals title, as they had previously won the 2013 edition in Malaysia and 2015 edition in Dubai, while the tournament was still called BWF Super Series Finals.
