Tokyo: Japan’s Rio Olympic women’s doubles gold medalist, Ayaka Takahashi has decided to retire from badminton after an illustrious career that saw her and her partner Misaki Matsutomo, won Japan’s first Olympic gold medal in badminton in Rio Olympics.
Takahashi was known for her powerful smashes, and she formed a formidable women’s doubles pair with Matsutomo, where they both studied in the same high school in Miyagi Prefecture. From 2011 to 2016, the duo has won five Japan national titles.
After losing the first set 18-21, and took the second set 21-9 against Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark in the Rio Olympic final, the 30-year-old Takahashi and 28-year-old Matsutomo showed strong fighting spirits to launch a dramatic come back from 16-19 down, reeling off 5 consecutive points to clinch the Olympic gold medal.
She was also the captain and led the Japanese women’s team to win its first Uber Cup trophy in 2018.
Takahashi/Matsutomo are currently ranked No. 5 in the Race to Tokyo – BWF Olympic Qualification rankings, behind the top-ranked Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota and third-ranked Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara. Since each country can only send a maximum of two pairs in the Olympic doubles events if both pairs are ranked in the top eight, Takahashi/Matsumoto are facing an uphill battle in qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics.
According to Japanese media, Takahashi will hold a press conference on August 19 to formally announce her retirement.
