World No 1 Momota wins opening match at Badminton All England Open

LONDON - World No 1 Kento Momota overcame nerves to win his first competition in 13 months at the Badminton All England Open on Wednesday.

The tournament held in Birmingham behind closed doors was delayed for half a day due to a significant number of COVID-19 tests conducted for the participating teams being deemed "inconclusive" and a small number of positive tests.

After rerunning the samples, the first-day competition was finally unveiled by the men's singles top seed Momota with his Indian opponent Kashyap Parupalli.

The reigning world champion Momota took the victory 21-13, 22-20, winning his first match since January 2020 after he suffered a car crash on his way to Kuala Lumpur International Airport after clinching the title at Malaysia Open.

"I won, but, to be honest, I'm not satisfied with my play," The 26-year-old said. But it's still an important win in his delayed comeback.

Momota underwent facial surgery in February last year and was ready to return to competition at the beginning of 2021. However, he tested positive for COVID-19 before heading to Thailand and his comeback was postponed for two more months.

Defending champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark fought hard to edge Japanese Koki Watanabe 13-21, 21-19, 21-19.

Momota was crowned at the All England Open in 2019 after beating Axelsen in the final but missed last year's tournament due to injury in the car accident.

Several teams such as China and South Korea skipped the competition due to concerns for the COVID-19 pandemic. Women's singles Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain also withdrew due to injury.