Introduction
Kenichi Tago (田児 賢一, Tago Ken'ichi, born July 16, 1989 in Chiba) 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 2014, he entered the Indonesia Open final after a shocking win over Lee Chong Wei in the semi final 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
| Year | Tournament | Venue | Placement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | |||
| 2010 All England Super Series | Birmingham | Runner-Up | |
| 2011 | |||
| 2011 French Super Series | Paris | Runner-Up | |
| 2012 | |||
| 2012 Malaysia Super Series | Malaysia | Runner-up | |
| 2013 | |||
| 2013 India Super Series | New Delhi | Runner-Up | |
| 2013 Japan Super Series | Tokyo | Runner-Up | |
| 2013 French Super Series | Paris | Runner-Up | |
| 2014 | |||
| 2014 Indonesia Super Series Premier | Jakarta | Runner-Up |
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
Nguyen Tien Minh 2–1
Gambling scandal
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.