Kenichi Tago


Kenichi Tago is a male badminton player from Japan, the son of badminton player Yoshiko Yonekura. In 2010, he reached the final of the All England Open Badminton Championships final. En route to the final he beat three seeded players including Nguyen Tien 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 matchpoint. 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 O. Jorgensen of Denmark. He competed at the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games.

Achievements

Asian Championships

Men's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2010Siri Fort Indoor Stadium, New Delhi, India Wang Zhengming14–21, 21–19, 16–21 Bronze

BWF World Junior Championships

Boys' singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2007Waitakere Trusts Stadium, Waitakere City, New Zealand Chen Long16–21, 14–21 Silver

Asian Junior Championships

Boys' singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2006Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Han Ki-hoon21–13, 16–21, 26–24 Gold

BWF Superseries

The BWF Superseries, launched on December 14, 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation. BWF Superseries has two level such as Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries features twelve tournaments around the world, which introduced since 2011, with successful players invited to the Superseries Finals held at the year end.
Men's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2014Indonesia Open Jan Ø. Jørgensen18–21, 18–21 Runner-up
2013French Open Jan Ø. Jørgensen19–21, 21–23 Runner-up
2013Japan Open Lee Chong Wei21–23, 17–21 Runner-up
2013India Open Lee Chong Wei15–21, 21–18, 17–21 Runner-up
2012Malaysia Open Lee Chong Wei6–21, 13–21 Runner-up
2011French Open Lee Chong Wei16–21, 11–21 Runner-up
2010All England Open Lee Chong Wei19–21, 19–21 Runner-up

BWF International Challenge/Series

Men's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2008Belgian International Chetan Anand21–16, 15–21, 21–19 Winner
2007Korea International Shon Seung-mo15–21, 21–18, 10–21 Runner-up
2007Scottish International Björn Joppien11–21, 21–15, 21–18 Winner
2007Swedish International Jens Kristian Leth21–15, 21–15 Winner

Record against selected opponents

Includes results against Olympic quarterfinals, Worlds semifinalists, and Super Series finalists, as well as all Olympic opponents.
In October 2015, Kenichi Tago was kicked out of Japan's national team by Park Joo-bong because of indiscipline, after he repeatedly missed training sessions and was proving to be a bad influence to other players. On April 8, 2016, Tago admitted to squandering 10 million Japanese yen over a period of 2 years after making over 60 visits to illegal casinos. Gambling in Japan is illegal, with frequent gambling punishable with imprisonment of up to 3 years.