Kajiwara Takes Gold in Men’s Singles Wheelchair Badminton; Finals Match Marks His 125th Consecutive Win

By Kohei Tsukamoto / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

15:05 JST, September 3, 2024

PARIS — Daiki Kajiwara, 22, recorded his 125th successive win in the men’s singles WH2 class for wheelchair users on Monday, in a victory that also earned him the gold in the event at the Paris Paralympic Games.

Kajiwara was passionate about baseball until his second year of junior high school, when he lost his right leg in a traffic accident. After that he switched to playing wheelchair badminton, and he eventually went on to star in the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, when the sport was added to the official roster. There he nabbed the first ever gold medal in men’s WH2-class singles at the age of 19.

Yet he has continued to aim ever higher even after becoming a world champion. Since Tokyo he has never known defeat, even in international competitions.

In April of this year, Kajiwara broke wheelchair tennis player Shingo Kunieda’s record of 107 consecutive wins. Kajiwara viewed Kunieda as his role model even though they are in different sports.

After each match, Kajiwara would analyze videos with his coach to get inside his opponent’s head. Kajiwara polished his wheelchair operating technique by practicing with an able-bodied player who would hit shots that would be difficult for a wheelchair user to keep up with.

At the Paris Games, he underlined his champion status by winning all four matches up to the final in straight sets.

“Currently the types of shots I’m able to take are pretty limited, so I’ve got a lot of room to grow. I want to keep winning,” said Kajiwara, vowing to make a further leap forward toward a third consecutive gold at the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.