Tokyo: Former World No. 6 Japanese player Sho Sasaki who was part of the Japanese 2014 Thomas Cup championship team has retired from professional badminton.
Sasaki who replaced Kento Momota as Japan’s sole men’s singles representative in the Rio Olympics, was in tears after losing to Rajiv Ouseph of England in the last Group I match on August 14. He told reporters that he has played his best and has no regrets after failing to quality for the knock out stage in Rio.
As a men’s singles player, the left-handed specialist has won the 2011 Australian Open, 2011 U.S. Open, 2010 Yonex Dutch Open, 2010 Osaka International Challenge and the 2007 Japanese National Championships.
In early April of 2016, Sasaki was thinking of retiring from badminton after he was not optimistic about qualifying for the Rio Olympics. When Kento Momota was banned from Rio Olympics for gambling in illegal casino, Sasaki was selected to play in Rio.
Not only was Rio Olympic his second Olympic appearance following the London Olympics, it was also his last international match of his career. His name has been officially removed from Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings as of December 29th, 2016.
