Why did he withdrew? He should be playing as much as possible to get his ranking back up so he can qualify for the bigger tournaments
Momota intended to participate in the Swiss Open as a last-ditch attempt to make it to the Olympics. However, when he was withdrawn from the French Open and All England, and no longer had a mathematical possibility of journeying to Paris, the tournament may have lost its appeal. BTW, all members participating in the Swiss Open are self-financed. Momota is still up for the Spain Masters, but I am not holding my breath.
I guess that makes sense. Did they withdraw him from france and all England as they felt he wont hav a chance to be promoted? Its kinda sad
Not really sad but, for example you're 15th on the reserve list. There's no real point travel as your chances of being promoted into draw are slim. If you're say within the 1-5 positions, you'd consider travelling as your chances of getting into the draw are higher.
As mentioned above, Momota was placed fourth on the reserve list of the French Open, and third with regard to the All England. I think that the NBA takes a fairly strict stance here; I don't think that anyone placed below No. 2 on the reserve list has a chance of being sent, ... the rationale being that it's taxpayers' money.
I don't think that he will have had the option. Self-financed participation is only usually possible in tournaments at the 500 level, or below. It is a rigid system that places control in the hands of the NBA, and not the players.
Is he giving up? He could still go on for a few more years and regain his form, he needs to start playing though, can’t be skipping so many tournaments
i think at this pt its a question of whether he is willing to self-finance tourneys that NPB has no interest in putting in such a missed opportunity - at times i felt like the ppl around him completely mismanaged him from recovery to the point of tour management.
It's funny that they placed Momota on the A team and withdrew his name because they wanted to save money Instead put Momota in the B team and he can play as much as possible. I wonder why they named Momota in team A?
For some reason, I missed his interview at the AJC. Looking back at this, I think him saying he couldn't smash since the quarterfinals because of his back injury was already a telltale sign that he wasn't and most likely still isn't healthy at all. This injury has been affecting him for years with no apparent improvement. It is so severe that he can't play properly. His career is over, Olympics or no Olympics. This statement also confirms that his decline had nothing (or very little) to do with the accident.
I would argue that the accident indirectly played a role, like a butterfly effect. Because of the accident, he was out for a long time. And when he made a comeback, his body was not in top condition which made him more prone to injury trying to play at the pace he used to. Maybe if he had been more patient and taken longer to rehab and eased back into coming back, it would have been better. But this is all hindsight speculation. Could have, should have, would have, etc. It is what it is.
Everything ended without a happy ending. But anyway, Momota won a few tournaments with his efforts after the accident. 2 world championships and a record of 11 tournaments in one year are not too many, but not many people have this.
I don't remember which interview it was, but it was mentioned there that the problem is disk hernia. It seems that there's no easy cure for it? Maybe @Cheung can give us some more information on this medical issue.
