Japanese Badmintonists Apologized For Visiting Illegal Casinos

The day after the scandal, some of the best japanese badmintonists kento momota and kenyiti tago apologized for visiting the illegal casinos and stated that their actions were unreasonable, writes japan times.

«I am very sorry about the deed, – the 21-year-old mom is stated, which is the 2nd racket of the world and on which high hopes for the olympic games in rio de janeiro. – i betrayed all those who believed me, who climbed me, supported and helped grow professionally, all residents of fukushima prefecture».

«I knew it was forbidden, but i could not stop myself», – says the 26-year-old tago, who participated in the 2012 olympiad in london and is a six-time champion of japan.

Both badmintonist stated that they began to play back in those countries where gambling was legalized, and could not resist while remaining in japan.

After returning players from an international tournament in malaysia ntt corp. The beginning of the investigation. According to the company, tago visited sumida ward casino about 10 times a month in the period from october 2014 to march 2015. After the police closed this institution last spring, he became a client of another casino in yokoham. Tago invited a momism with him who visited the casino about 6 times.

The investigation determined that both institutions that visited tago belonged to the same owner. Police suspects that the money received by illegally could act in the hands of the organized criminal grouping sumyusi kai.

In ntt, noted that players used funds received for the victory in tournaments. Masayuki okamoto, head of the ntt east badminton club, said that the momism for his career earned about 27 million yen, and tago – 20 million, losing 500 thousand and 10 million, respectively.

Kenyti tago, who headed the national badminton national team at the 2012 olympics in london, was excluded from the association. He noted that he was ready to accept any punishment, just if momota gave a second chance, because it was he who pulled his colleague into the game. However, the badminton association of japan decided to remove momot from participation in official competitions indefinitely. Thus, the second racket of the world will miss the 2016 olympic games in brazil.