Akane Yamaguchi

In the year 2000, at the tender age of three, the star player Akane Yamaguchi picked up her first badminton racket - and since then, she's been on the rise. Already in 2010, she topped Japan's National Junior Championship. This led her to her first professional tournament in 2012, where she participated in the Osaka International Challenge. The same year, she won her first bronze medal at the Asian Junior Championship in Gimcheon, South Korea.

In 2013, she won the Japan Open - making her the youngest player to win a BWF Super Series tournament. The following year, she clinched gold at both the World Junior Championships and Asian Junior Championships. That same year, she was part of the Japanese squad that won silver at the 2014 Uber Cup.

In 2015, Akane secured gold at the Bitburger Open against Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan. The following year, she represented Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals. That same year, she won two BWF Super Series tournaments at the Korean Open and Denmark Open.

In 2017, she reached the finals of the Australian Open, Denmark Open, French Open, and China Open, winning only the China Open. Later that year, she participated in the 2018 Dubai World Super Series Finals, where she emerged victorious. The following year, she won the Super 300 German Open tournament, and she was also named the world number one.

In 2019, she won both the Super 300 German Open, Japan Open, and Super 1000 Indonesia Open. The following year, she represented Japan again at the Olympic Games at the 2020 Summer Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals once more. That same year, she won the Super 300 Thailand Masters. In 2021, she won the Super 1000 Denmark Open and Super 750 French Open.