World No 1 Kento Momota of Japan will not be playing in this week’s Daihatsu Indonesia Masters which begins in Jakarta on Tuesday.
 
Japan’s Malaysian coach Tan Kim Her said due to his injuries sustained in a road accident this morning (Monday) the 26-year-old will not be competing in the Indonesian meet.
 
Momota was the top seed for the Indonesia Masters and won the Perodua Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. Hours later he was involved in the accident which claimed the life of the van driver N. Bavan, 25, who died on the spot.
 
The accident happened around 4.45 am along the Maju Expressway (MEX) while on the way to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport en route to Jakarta.
 
The van crashed into the back of a 30-tonne lorry. Momota was injured. Also injured with Japan’s assistant coach Yu Hirayama, 35, team physiotherapist Akifumi Morimoto and Badminton World Federation (BWF) technical official William Thomas from England.
 
Momota suffered a broken nose, a fractured cheekbone, stitches to his lips and also lacerations to his face.
 
He won 11 titles last year, including retaining his world title in Basel, Switzerland apart from retaining his Fuzhou China Open title. 
 
Momota was the top seed in the Indonesia Open and was drawn to meet compatriot Kanta Tsuneyama in the first round.
 
Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, together with Badminton Association (BAM) president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria, BAM secretary Datuk Kenny Goh and National Sports Council director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail were among those who visited the victims at the Putrajaya Hospital.– BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
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