(Reuters) - Japan's Olympic badminton champion Ayaka Takahashi will not defend her doubles crown with Misaki Matsutomo at next year's Tokyo Games after announcing she will retire at the end of the month. Takahashi and Matsutomo defeated Denmark's Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl in the Rio Olympics in 2016 to claim the women's doubles gold medal and secure their nation's first ever badminton title. Takahashi, 30, cited the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the reasons for her decision to step away, saying her body might not hold up for another year. When I train I train, when I rest I rest." I thought the match at the All England could be the last for me as we were not sure at that time whether the Olympic qualifying race would continue," Takahashi said.

Source: The Star August 20, 2020 06:11 UTC