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Koki Watanabe
Japanese badminton player From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Koki Watanabe (渡邉 航貴, Watanabe Kōki; born 29 January 1999) is a Japanese badminton player.[1] He graduated from the Saitama Sakae High School, and was part of the BIPROGY team since 2017.[2] Watanabe has won a Super 500 title at the Canada Open and was the runner-up in the Super 750 at the Denmark Open.
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Career
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Watanabe started his badminton career when he was four years old, entered the badminton club under the influence of his sister.[3] He later concentrate his badminton career in the kindergarten, and when he was in the elementary school, he won the Saitama school championships in third consecutive years. Watanabe entered the Saitamasakaechugakko Koto school, and won the singles title at the national junior championships, also placed third in the doubles event.[2][3] He was part of the national junior team that competed at the 2015 and 2016 Asia and World Junior Championships, winning the World boys' singles bronze medal in 2015, he also helped the national team win the 2015, 2016 Asian, also 2016 World Junior bronze medals.[4]
In 2018, Watanabe became the runner-up at the BWF Super 100 tournament Russian Open.[5]
2024
Watanabe won his first Super 500 title at the Canada Open, defeating compatriot Kodai Naraoka in the semifinals and Alex Lanier of France in the final.[6][7] He also finished as the runner-up at the Super 750 Denmark Open, where he lost to Anders Antonsen.[8][9] During that tournament, he defeated Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the second round.[10]
Throughout the season, Watanabe reached the semifinals at the Arctic Open and the U.S. Open, and the quarterfinals at the All England Open, China Open, and India Open.[11][12][13] His tournament runs included a victory over world No. 3 Li Shifeng at the India Open.[14] At the China and Arctic Opens, he defeated Lee Zii Jia, extending his undefeated head-to-head record against the Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist.[15][16] In team competition, he was a member of the Japanese team that won the bronze medal at the Asia Team Championships.[17] These performances led to Watanabe achieving a career-high world ranking of No. 11 on 22 October 2024.
2025
Watanabe faced a challenging start to his 2025 season, experiencing early round exits in tournaments during the first half of the year. His performance improved in July at the Super 750 Japan Open, where he reached the semifinals for the first time at this tournament. En route to the semifinals, he defeated Chou Tien-chen in the second round and Weng Hongyang in the quarterfinals, before losing to eventual runner-up Alex Lanier.[18][19] Watanabe attributed his improved performance to advice from Kento Momota, which encouraged him to adopt a "challenger spirit" following a period of poor form.[20][21] In team competition, he was also a member of the Japanese team that secured a bronze medal at the Sudirman Cup.[22]
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Awards and nominations
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Achievements
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BWF World Junior Championships
Boys' singles
BWF World Tour (3 titles, 3 runners-up)
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[25] 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, and the BWF Tour Super 100.[26]
Men's singles
BWF International Challenge/Series (2 titles)
Men's singles
- BWF International Challenge tournament
References
External links
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