Miyazaki overcomes 'anxiety' to win on badminton worlds debut

Paris: Japanese teen sensation Tomoka Miyazaki kickstarted her maiden badminton world championships with a win on Tuesday, but admitted nerves and a...

Paris: Japanese teen sensation Tomoka Miyazaki kickstarted her maiden badminton world championships with a win on Tuesday, but admitted nerves and a "bad habit" almost got the better of her in Paris.

Lauded as the future face of the sport in Japan, 19-year-old Miyazaki may be making her bow at the major but is already in the top-10 in the world rankings and a junior world champion after victory in the underage tournament three years ago in Spain.

Such expectations would weigh on even the most experienced of players, and, despite feeling the strain, the eighth seed held her nerve to pull off a comeback 2-1 win over Turkiye's Neslihan Arin in the first round.

"In the first game, I felt like I was struggling because my control wasn't there," Miyazaki told reporters.

"The opponent was big, and controlling the shots was difficult, so I ended up forcing it a bit... I felt I couldn't move smoothly or think clearly, and it was a really tough (first) game for me.