Kenichi Tago

Kenichi Tago
Kenichi Tago at the 2013 French Super Series.
Personal information
Country	Japan
Born	(1989-07-16) July 16, 1989 Chiba, Japan
Height	1.76m
Weight	72 kg (159 lb)
Handedness	Right
Men's singles
Highest ranking	3 (April 3, 2014)
Current ranking	39 (August 13, 2015[1])
Medal record Men's badminton Competitor for  Japan Thomas Cup 2014 New Delhi Team
BWF profile
Updated on 10:23 AM, 13 August 2015 (UTC).

Kenichi Tago (田児 賢一, Tago Ken'ichi, born July 16, 1989 in Chiba) is a male badminton player from Japan, the son of badminton player Yoshiko Yonekura. In 2010, he reached the final of the All England Open Badminton Championships final. En route to the final he beat three seeded players including Nguyen Tien Minh, Chen Jin and Bao Chunlai. In the final, Tago lost to the first seed and reigning World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia with a score of 21–19 and 21–19,^[2] following an incorrect line call in Lee Chong Wei's favour at matchpoint.^[3] In 2014, he entered the BCA Indonesia open final after a shocking win over Lee Chong Wei in the semi final but could not keep up his good form and went on to lose straight games in the final to Jan Jorgensen of Denmark. He competed at the 2010 & 2014 Asian Games.

In October 2015, Kenichi Tago was booted out of Japan’s national team because of indiscipline.

“It was a difficult decision to make, but we had to do it because we did not want his action to influence others in the national team,” said head coach Park Joo-bong, who added that Tago was dropped after the Japan Open last month.

“Without him, our strength in men’s singles will be diluted, but we had no choice because he broke the national camp rules several times.”

It is learnt that Tago did not report for centralised training and preferred more personal attention.

The axing must have affected Tago judging by his dismal first qualifying round loss – 21-11, 17-21, 16-21 – to Denmark’s Kim Bruun at the Denmark Open on Tuesday.

Joo-bong believes that the axing of Tago would keep others in check.

“If this can happen to Tago, it can happen to anyone in the national team,” he said.

Without Tago, it will be up to Kento Momota to keep Japan’s flag flying in men’s singles at the Rio Olympic Games next year.^[4]

Achievements

Record against selected opponents

Includes results against Olympic quarterfinals, Worlds semifinalists, and Super Series finalists, as well as all Olympic opponents.^[5]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kenichi Tago.

• Profile on Ntt-east.co.jp (Japanese)
• Profile on Badmintonasia.org