Kenya Mitsuhashi

Kenya Mitsuhashi (三橋 健也, Mitsuhashi Ken'ya; born 11 July 1997) is a Japanese badminton player.^[2][3] He was a silver medalist in the men's doubles at the 2017 Summer Universiade.^[4]

Kenya Mitsuhashi
Mitsuhashi at the 2023 Kaohsiung Masters
Personal information
Country	Japan
Born	(1997-07-11) 11 July 1997 (age 28) Gunma Prefecture, Japan
Height	172 cm (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Weight	72 kg (159 lb)[1]
Coach	Lee Wan Wah Hiroyuki Endo
Men's doubles
Highest ranking	18 (with Hiroki Okamura, 27 August 2024)
Current ranking	34 (with Hiroki Okamura, 29 July 2025)
Medal record Men's badminton Representing  Japan Asia Mixed Team Championships 2025 Qingdao Mixed team Asia Team Championships 2024 Selangor Men's team Summer Universiade 2017 Taipei Men's doubles 2017 Taipei Mixed team World Junior Championships 2014 Alor Setar Mixed team 2015 Lima Boys' doubles Asia Junior Championships 2014 Taipei Boys' doubles 2014 Taipei Mixed team 2015 Bangkok Mixed team
BWF profile

Career

Mitsuhashi was selected to join national junior team competed at the 2014 Asian Junior Championships, and helped the team win the mixed team bronze medal.^[5] He also settled for another bronze medal in the boys' doubles event partnered with Yuta Watanabe.^[6] TOgether with the Japan juniors, he won the bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in Alor Setar, Malaysia.^[7] He captured a title at the 2014 Korea Junior Open in the boys' doubles event teamed-up with Watanabe.

Mitsuhashi started the 2015 season, by winning the boys' doubles title at the Dutch Junior tournament with Watanabe. He participated at the Asian Junior Championships, clinched the bronze medal in the mixed team events.^[8] Mitsuhashi made his first appearance in the senior international event at the Osaka International tournament. He then claimed two title at the Australian Junior International, winning the bos' singles and doubles event, and later won the boys' dobules title in the Danish Junior Cup. In November, he won the boys' doubles bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in Lima, Peru.^[9]

Mitsuhashi reached his first final in the senior event at the 2016 Austrian Open, losing the final to Marcus Ellis and Chirsi Langridge,^[10] and later also became a runner-up in the Vietnam International Challenge.^[11] After graduating from high school, he went on to Nihon University. In 2017, he participated in the Universiade (World University Championships) as a pair with Katsuki Tamate. In the semi-finals, he defeated the pair of Lee Yang and Lee Jhe-huei, to advance to the finals. In the finals, he lost to Kim Jae-hwan and Seo Seung-jae, and came in second.^[4] In 2018, he started to play in the mixed doubles with Naru Shinoya, with their best results during the year were the semi-finalists in the Osaka International, as well as quarter-finalists in the Malaysia International and Vietnam Open.

After graduating from university, Mitsuhashi joined Nippon Unisys (now BIPROGY). He formed a pair with Takuto Inoue, who is two years older than him. They achieved results such as the runner-up in the All Japan Overall Championship in 2021 and the All Japan Adult Championship in 2022. In the early 2022 season, Mitsuhashi and Inoue reached three finals in the Réunion Open, Mongolia International, and at the Canada Open.

2023

From 2023, Mitsuhashi was paired with Hiroki Okamura, who is one year younger than him. In September, he won the Vietnam Open, marking his first BWF World Tour title. The duo then won the Indonesia International Challenge and Indonesia Masters Super 100 in October. At the Japan Masters in November, they defeated world number 9 Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in straight games in the first round.^[12] In the second round, they defeated world number 6 and world champions Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae in straight games to advance to the quarter-finals.^[13] They lost the quarter-finals match to He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu.^[14]

Achievements

Summer Universiade

Men's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2017	Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei, Taiwan	Katsuki Tamate	Kim Jae-hwan Seo Seung-jae	12–21, 19–21	Silver	[15]

World Junior Championships

Boys' doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2015	Centro de Alto Rendimiento de la Videna, Lima, Peru	Yuta Watanabe	He Jiting Zheng Siwei	13–21, 16–21	Bronze	[16]

Asian Junior Championships

Boys' doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2014	Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei, Taiwan	Yuta Watanabe	Huang Kaixiang Zheng Siwei	10–21, 8–21	Bronze	[17]

BWF World Tour (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,^[18] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.^[19]

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Level	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2022	Canada Open	Super 100	Takuto Inoue	Ayato Endo Yuta Takei	15–21, 8–21	Runner-up	[20][21]
2023	Vietnam Open	Super 100	Hiroki Okamura	Hardianto Ade Yusuf Santoso	21–19, 21–19	Winner	[22]
2023 (II)	Indonesia Masters	Super 100	Hiroki Okamura	Choong Hon Jian Muhammad Haikal	21–16, 21–18	Winner	[23]

BWF International Challenge/Series (1 title, 4 runners-up)

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2016	Austrian Open	Yuta Watanabe	Marcus Ellis Chris Langridge	14–21, 16–21	Runner-up	[24]
2016	Vietnam International	Yuta Watanabe	Ong Yew Sin Teo Ee Yi	19–21, 14–21	Runner-up	[25]
2022	Réunion Open	Takuto Inoue	Shuntaro Mezaki Haruya Nishida	21–16, 18–21, 10–21	Runner-up	[26]
2022	Mongolia International	Takuto Inoue	Ayato Endo Yuta Takei	14–21, 21–12, 19–21	Runner-up	[27]
2023 (II)	Indonesia International	Hiroki Okamura	Ki Dong-ju Kim Jae-hwan	20–22, 21–16, 21–8	Winner	[28]

  BWF International Challenge tournament