38 Facts About Akane Yamaguchi

Akane Yamaguchi was a two-time world champion who won gold medals in the women's singles at the 2021 and 2022 World Championships.

Akane Yamaguchi was a member of the winning Japanese team at the Asian Junior Championships in 2012 and won the World Junior Championships in 2013 and 2014, the Asian Junior Championships in 2014, and the Asian Championships in 2019.

Akane Yamaguchi was inducted into Japan's national junior team that won Japan's first junior mixed team title.

Akane Yamaguchi reached the finals of the World Junior Championships in the singles event, coming second when she lost to Okuhara again.

Akane Yamaguchi was the women's singles runner-up in the New Zealand Open, a Grand Prix tournament.

Akane Yamaguchi defeated seeded player Tai Tzu-ying in a semi-final, leading to her match-up with her compatriot Shizuka Uchida, whom she beat in the final to become the youngest player to win the BWF Superseries tournament, aged only 16.

One year after losing the final at the world juniors competition, Akane Yamaguchi won the title by beating her teammate Aya Ohori.

Akane Yamaguchi was named the Most Promising Player of the Year by the Badminton World Federation in late 2013 and 2014.

In February, still a teenager, Akane Yamaguchi entered the 2014 Asian Junior Championships as the fourth seed.

Akane Yamaguchi won the title by defeating Chen Yufei from China.

Akane Yamaguchi defended her World Junior crown, winning against Chinese player He Bingjiao in the final round.

Akane Yamaguchi was part of the Japanese team that won the silver medal at the 2014 Uber Cup.

On 16 August, Akane Yamaguchi served as the flag-bearer for the Japanese team at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China.

Akane Yamaguchi was the number one seed in the women's singles event, eventually winning the silver medal.

Akane Yamaguchi finished as runner-up in the tournament after losing to Saina Nehwal.

Akane Yamaguchi won all of her group matches, against Wang Yihan, Ratchanok Intanon and Tai Tzu-ying.

Akane Yamaguchi lost in the semi-final against Korean player Sung Ji-hyun.

At the Japan Open, where she was the champion two years earlier, Akane Yamaguchi was beaten in the final by Nozomi Okuhara.

Akane Yamaguchi was eliminated in the quarter-finals by sixth seed Nozomi Okuhara.

Akane Yamaguchi followed this with a win at the Denmark Open held at Odense.

On her way to victory, Akane Yamaguchi defeated her teammate Okuhara in the quarter-finals and two-time World Champion and Olympic gold medalist Carolina Marin in a close three-set match in the semi-finals.

In February 2017, Akane Yamaguchi represented Japan at the Asia Mixed Team Championships held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and helped the team win its first mixed team championship.

Akane Yamaguchi was a finalist at the Australian Open where she lost to Nozomi Okuhara.

Akane Yamaguchi's consistent run continued and she reached the final in the China Open.

Akane Yamaguchi ended the year collecting US$261,363 from 15 tournaments, becoming the highest-paid player of the year.

In March 2018, Akane Yamaguchi played in the Super 300 German Open tournament.

Akane Yamaguchi reached her first ever final at the All England Open where she was in the losing side to Tai Tzu-ying.

In 2020, Akane Yamaguchi claimed her first title victory of the year at the Thailand Masters, winning against An Se-young in two consecutive games.

Akane Yamaguchi was then in the Japanese team that won the Asian Women's team championship.

Akane Yamaguchi competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics as the number four seed.

Akane Yamaguchi became the Denmark Open champion for the second time by besting her rival from South Korea, An Se-young.

Akane Yamaguchi won her second consecutive title by winning the French Open Super 750 event against Sayaka Takahashi.

Akane Yamaguchi was crowned the World Champion after she defeated Tai Tzu-ying in the final, and with this she became only the second Japanese women's singles player to win the World Championships after Nozomi Okuhara.

At the 2022 All England Open, Akane Yamaguchi defeated Korea's An Se-young in straight sets to win the women's singles title at the All England Open for the first time.

Akane Yamaguchi became the fourth Japanese women's singles player to win the All England Championship after Hiroe Yuki, Etsuko Takenaka and Nozomi Okuhara.

Akane Yamaguchi became the first player in the history of Japanese badminton women's singles to successfully defend her title in the world championships.

Akane Yamaguchi was later named the 2022 BWF Female Player of the Year.

Chinese player Sun Yu has commented on Akane Yamaguchi's style, pointing out that while small, she is diligent and runs swiftly, and she is capable of picking up the kinds of difficult shots that others are typically unable to save.