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TOKYO: Kento Momota, world number one in badminton, tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday January 3, which resulted in the withdrawal of all Japanese players from this month’s Thailand Open, the Japanese Association said badminton.
“Momota has tested positive for the coronavirus, and the association has decided not to send players, including Momota, to Thailand,” an association official told AFP.
Momota was looking to make his international return to Bangkok after almost a year following a car crash that left him with serious injuries.
National broadcaster NHK said the 26-year-old tested positive at Narita airport before the Japanese team left for Thailand.
An association official confirmed that none of the other 22 Japanese players tested positive, but said the whole squad would withdraw nonetheless.
Momota won the All-Japan Championship last week in his first competition since his crash last January, when the vehicle taking him to the airport after winning the Malaysia Masters crashed, killing the driver.
Momota feared her career might be over after fracturing an eye socket in the crash, and admitted her “mind was almost shattered” after undergoing surgery.
The rescheduled Thailand Open is one of three tournaments taking place in Thailand this month, following disruptions to the badminton world tour schedule last year.
READ: World number one badminton momota returns from car crash with win
Tokyo reported 816 daily new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, a day after governors in the capital and neighboring prefectures called on the Japanese government to announce a state of emergency to combat a recent increase in cases.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has resisted calls for a second national state of emergency; the government first introduced this measure in April during a first wave of a pandemic. Suga is due to speak publicly on January 4.
Japan’s Health Ministry said on Sunday that there were 3,045 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the country.
Since the start of the pandemic, Japan has reported more than 240,000 cases of the new coronavirus and 3,548 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.
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