Kenichi Tago

is a Japanese former professional badminton player. He is the son of former badminton player Yoshiko Yonekura. In 2010, he reached the final of the All England Open Badminton Championships. En route to the final, he beat three seeded players, including Nguyễn Tiến Minh, Chen Jin and Bao Chunlai. In the final, Tago lost to the first seed and reigning World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia with a score of 21–19 and 21–19, following an incorrect line call in Lee Chong Wei's favour at match point. In 2012, he competed at the London 2012 Summer Olympics in the men's singles event, but did not advance to the knock-out stage after being defeated by Niluka Karunaratne of Sri Lanka with a score of 18–21, 16–21. In 2014, he reached the Indonesia Open final after a shocking win over Lee Chong Wei in the semifinal but could not keep up his good form and went on to lose by straight games in the final to Jan Ø. Jørgensen of Denmark. He competed at the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games.

Achievements

Asian Championships Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2010 Siri Fort Indoor Stadium, New Delhi, India Wang Zhengming 14–21, 21–19, 16–21 Bronze Bronze

BWF World Junior Championships Boys' singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2007 The Trusts Stadium, Waitakere City, New Zealand Chen Long 16–21, 14–21 Silver Silver

Asian Junior Championships Boys' singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2006 Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Han Ki-hoon 21–13, 16–21, 26–24 Gold Gold

BWF Super Series The BWF Super Series, launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, was a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Super Series had two level such as Super Series and Super Series Premier. A season of the Super Series featured a total of twelve tournaments around the world since the 2011 season, with successful players invited to the Super Series Finals held at the year end.

Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2010 All England Open Lee Chong Wei 19–21, 19–21 Runner-up 2011 French Open Lee Chong Wei 16–21, 11–21 Runner-up 2012 Malaysia Open Lee Chong Wei 6–21, 13–21 Runner-up 2013 India Open Lee Chong Wei 15–21, 21–18, 17–21 Runner-up 2013 Japan Open Lee Chong Wei 21–23, 17–21 Runner-up 2013 French Open Jan Ø. Jørgensen 19–21, 21–23 Runner-up 2014 Indonesia Open Jan Ø. Jørgensen 18–21, 18–21 Runner-up BWF Super Series Premier tournament BWF Superseries tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2007 Swedish International Jens Kristian Leth 21–15, 21–15 Winner 2007 Scottish International Björn Joppien 11–21, 21–15, 21–18 Winner 2007 Korea International Shon Seung-mo 15–21, 21–18, 10–21 Runner-up 2008 Belgian International Chetan Anand 21–16, 15–21, 21–19 Winner BWF International Challenge tournament BWF International Series tournament

Record against selected opponents Includes results against Olympic quarterfinals, Worlds semifinalists, and Super Series finalists, as well as all Olympic opponents.

Chen Jin 2–3 Chen Yu 1–1 Chen Long 4–7 Bao Chunlai 2–0 Lin Dan 1–3 Wang Zhengming 1–3 Du Pengyu 2–2 Hsieh Yu-hsing 1–0 Jan Ø. Jørgensen 7–7 Joachim Persson 2–0 Peter Gade 1–3 Viktor Axelsen 2–2 Marc Zwiebler 5–0 Hu Yun 6–2 Parupalli Kashyap 3–2 Srikanth Kidambi 2–0 Simon Santoso 2–2 Sony Dwi Kuncoro 1–7 Taufik Hidayat 2–4 Tommy Sugiarto 1–3 Sho Sasaki 3–2 Shon Seung-mo 0–2 Lee Hyun-il 0–1 Park Sung-hwan 0–3 Park Tae-sang 0–1 Shon Wan-ho 2–3 Lee Chong Wei 2–17 Liew Daren 2–0 Wong Choong Hann 1–4 Chong Wei Feng 5–1 Ronald Susilo 1–0 Niluka Karunaratne 0–1 Boonsak Ponsana 2–1 Nguyễn Tiến Minh 2–1

Gambling scandal In October 2015, Tago was removed from Japan's national team by head coach Park Joo-bong due to indiscipline, after he repeatedly missed training sessions and was proving to be a bad influence to other players. On 8 April 2016, Tago admitted to squandering 10 million Japanese yen over a period of 2 years after making over 60 visits to illegal casinos alongside other professional players, including countryman Kento Momota, who was banned from competition until late 2017 and forced to miss the Olympic Games as a result. Gambling in Japan is illegal, with frequent gambling punishable with imprisonment of up to 3 years.