Tokyo: August 19th was a special day for Japan’s Rio Olympic women’s doubles champion, Ayaka Takahashi. Not only that she and her partner Misaki Matsutomo won the Rio Olympic gold medal on that date (the final was held on August 19th, Japanese local time, but was on August 18th, Rio de Janeiro local time), she also chose August 19th to announce her retirement from badminton through an online press conference.
Takahashi told the media on Wednesday that she was going to retire from her professional badminton career, and her official retirement date would be August 31, 2020.
“After winning the gold medal at the Rio Olympics, I was motivated by what I should do next. I have worked hard toward the Tokyo Olympics,” said Takahashi.
However, as the Tokyo Olympics were postponed for one year due to the coronavirus outbreak, Takahashi said she couldn’t wait that long.
“I don’t think I could get through another year mentally and physically,” added Takahashi.
“I have been thinking about my retirement from badminton during the lockdown period,” continued Takahashi as she wiped off her tears.
“I then communicated my honest feeling to Matsutomo and my employer Nihon Unisys, they respected my decision.”
“I asked my parents about this, they were very supportive, and sais this would be a big weight off my shoulders.”
Takahashi used to be a women’s singles player, but she was paired up with her junior, Misaki Matsutomo, in their high school, and the pair started to win five Japanese national championships between 2011 and 2016, they were ranked World No. 1 women’s doubles pair for a total of 18 months.
“I thought that doubles were fun because I was playing with Matsutomo, and I was able to experience so many things with her. I don’t think I could achieve any of these if I played singles or with being paired up with another player. I thank Matsutomo who had accompanied me for the last 13 years.”
Looking back when she first joined the Japanese national team, Matsumoto said, “There was a big gap between us and China, and we kept thinking it would be difficult to beat China. But we did not give up and grew little by little, and in the end, we came out on top.”
As for Matsumoto, she also was emotional during the online press conference.
“I couldn’t have gotten those great results without Takahashi. I’m happy for her and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to find such a great partner. I’m thankful for what we’ve achieved as a pair,” said Matsumoto.
After Takahashi’s retirement, Matsutomo will continue her badminton career by playing in the mixed doubles event.
