Minoru Koga

Minoru Koga (古賀 穂, Koga Minoru; born 30 September 1996) is a Japanese badminton player.^[1] His junior international achievements include a gold medal in mixed doubles at the 2013 Asian Youth Games and bronze medals with the national team at the 2014 Asian and World Junior Championships. While studying at Waseda University, he won the men's singles title at the All Japan Intercollegiate Championships in 2017 and 2018. On the BWF World Tour, his best result was a runner-up finish at the 2018 Canada Open. He plays for the AC Nagano Parceiro Badminton Club, having previously played for NTT East.^[2]

Minoru Koga
Personal information
Country	Japan
Born	(1996-09-30) 30 September 1996 (age 28) Fukuoka, Japan
Height	1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	63 kg (139 lb)
Handedness	Left
Men's singles
Highest ranking	56 (21 March 2023)
Current ranking	284 (19 August 2025)
Medal record Men's badminton Representing  Japan Asia Mixed Team Championships 2019 Hong Kong Mixed team World Junior Championships 2014 Alor Setar Mixed team Asian Youth Games 2013 Nanjing Mixed doubles Asian Junior Championships 2014 Taipei Mixed team
BWF profile

Early life and career

Minoru Koga was born on 30 September 1996, in Fukuoka, Japan, and began playing badminton at the age of six at the Okagaki Junior club.^[3] While attending Tomioka Daiichi Junior High School in Fukushima Prefecture as a second-year student, he was forced to evacuate due to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.^[4]

At the national level, Koga won the junior singles title across all three major age divisions: the All Japan Elementary School Championships in 2008, the All Japan Junior High School Championships in 2011, and the National High School Championships (Inter-High) in 2014.^[5] At the 2014 Inter-High, he defeated Kanta Tsuneyama in the singles final and led Tomioka High School to the team title.^[6] On the international junior stage, Koga won a gold medal in mixed doubles at the 2013 Asian Youth Games, partnered with Akane Yamaguchi.^[7] He also contributed to the Japanese team winning bronze medals at both the 2014 Asian and World Junior Championships.^[8][9]

Koga enrolled at Waseda University in 2015, majoring in sport sciences.^[10] He won the men's singles title at the All Japan Intercollegiate Championships in two consecutive years, defeating Shota Omoto in the 2017 final and teammate Takuma Obayashi in the 2018 final.^[11][12] In his final year, he captained the Waseda team to a national intercollegiate team title.^[13] Koga was first selected for the Japanese national B team in 2018.^[10]

Career

After graduating from Waseda University, Koga joined the NTT East badminton team on 1 April 2019.^[10] He transferred to the AC Nagano Parceiro Badminton Club on 1 April 2025.^[2] He was a member of the Japanese national B team from 2018 to 2022 and was part of the squad that won a silver medal at the 2019 Asia Mixed Team Championships.^[14]

Koga won his first senior international title at the 2019 Swedish Open, defeating future world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the final.^[15] Since then, he has won five other international titles: the 2022 Mexican International, three titles in 2023 (Thailand, Malaysia, and Bahrain), and the 2024 Malaysia International.^{[16][17][18][19]} His best result on the BWF World Tour was a runner-up finish at the 2018 Canada Open, which he entered while ranked world No. 396, losing to Lu Guangzu of China.^[20] At the 2019 Vietnam Open, he reached the semifinals, a run that included a victory over another future world champion, Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand.^[21] Koga achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 56 on 21 March 2023.

Domestically, Koga is a two-time champion of both the All Japan Members Badminton Championships (2019, 2023) and the Japan Ranking Circuit (2021, 2023).^[22][23][24]

Personal life

His elder brother, Akira Koga, is also a badminton player affiliated with JTEKT Stingers.^[3]

Achievements

Asian Youth Games

Mixed doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2013	Nanjing Sport Institute, Nanjing, China	Akane Yamaguchi	Dechapol Puavaranukroh Puttita Supajirakul	21–19, 19–21, 21–17	Gold	[7]

BWF World Tour (1 runner-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 Tours are 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.^[26]

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Level	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2018	Canada Open	Super 100	Lu Guangzu	15–21, 10–21	Runner-up	[20]

BWF International Challenge/Series (6 titles, 2 runners-up)

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2019	Slovenian International	Sourabh Verma	17–21, 12–21	Runner-up	[27]
2019	Lao International	Kodai Naraoka	20–22, 20–22	Runner-up	[28][29]
2019	Swedish Open	Loh Kean Yew	21–11, 21–15	Winner	[15]
2022	Mexican International	Jonathan Matias	10–21, 22–20, 21–13	Winner	[16]
2023	Thailand International	Chi Yu-jen	15–21, 21–17, 22–20	Winner	[30]
2023	Malaysia International	Takuma Kawamoto	21–17, 10–21, 21–11	Winner	[17]
2023	Bahrain International	Riki Takei	11–21, 21–15, 21–18	Winner	[18]
2024	Malaysia International	Riku Hatano	21–19, 15–21, 21–11	Winner	[19]

  BWF International Challenge tournament

  BWF International Series tournament

Record against selected opponents

Record against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 11 June 2024.^[31]

Player Matches Win Lost Diff. Shi Yuqi 1 0 1 –1 Loh Kean Yew 1 1 0 +1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn 1 1 0 +1 Kodai Naraoka 1 0 1 –1 Zhao Junpeng 1 1 0 +1 Nguyễn Tiến Minh 1 1 0 +1