Shōji Satō

This article is about the badminton player. For the manga artist otherwise known as Inazuma, see Shōji Satō (manga artist).

Shōji Satō (佐藤 翔冶, Satō Shōji; born 19 September 1982) is a retired Japanese badminton player from NTT East team. He now works as a NTT East singles coach.^[2]

Shōji Satō
Shizuka Matsuo and Shoji Sato
Personal information
Birth name	佐藤翔冶
Country	Japan
Born	(1982-09-19) 19 September 1982 (age 42) Higashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan[1]
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)[1]
Weight	60 kg (132 lb)[1]
Retired	2012
Handedness	Right
Men's singles & doubles
Highest ranking	9 (MD with Naoki Kawamae 22 March 2012) 12 (XD with Shizuka Matsuo 20 September 2012)
Medal record Men's badminton Representing  Japan Thomas Cup 2010 Kuala Lumpur Men's team 2012 Wuhan Men's team
BWF profile

Career

Sato started to playing badminton when he was a kid, influenced by his parents who used to playing badminton as a hobby. He then joined Kodaira club when he was in the third grade of elementary school. He won four Japanese National Championships in a row between 2003 and 2006.^[3]

Sato made his first appearance at the Olympic Games in 2004 Athens, competed in the men's singles, losing in the round of 32 to Bao Chunlai of China. He also played at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won the men's singles round of 32 and lost in the round of 16.^[1][4]

Sato also represented Japan as the third singles in the 2010 Thomas Cup held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He played as the third singles and against Malaysia in the group stage, he shocked the hosts after defeating Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, after the team staged a huge comeback from 0–2 down to win 3–2 over the hosts.

At the 2012 London Olympics, he competed with Naoki Kawamae in the men's doubles.^[1]

Achievements

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) which was held from 2007 to 2017. The World Badminton Grand Prix has been sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006.

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2005	Dutch Open	Muhammad Hafiz Hashim	21–18, 21–17	Runner-up

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2011	Australian Open	Naoki Kawamae	Hiroyuki Endo Kenichi Hayakawa	17–21, 18–21	Runner-up
2011	Russian Open	Naoki Kawamae	Hiroyuki Endo Kenichi Hayakawa	21–18, 21–17	Winner
2011	India Grand Prix Gold	Naoki Kawamae	Andrei Adistia Christopher Rusdianto	21–17, 12–21, 23–21	Winner
2012	Swiss Open	Naoki Kawamae	Fang Chieh-min Lee Sheng-mu	21–13, 21–14	Winner

  BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

  BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2001	Ten Days of Dawn	Afshin Bozorgzadeh	17–14, 15–2	Winner
2001	Cuba International	Sho Sasaki	15–10, 15–5	Winner
2001	Nigeria International	Sho Sasaki	7–15, 10–15	Runner-up
2003	Luxembourge Memorial Thierry Theis	Arif Rasidi	15–13, 15–13	Winner
2003	Iran Fajr International	Yousuke Nakanishi	15–4, 17–14	Winner
2003	South Africa International	Hidetaka Yamada	11–15, 15–12, 15–7	Winner
2003	Wellington International	Sho Sasaki	15–4, 17–14	Winner
2003	New Zealand International	Hidetaka Yamada	3–15, 15–4, 15–1	Winner
2003	Australian International	Yuichi Ikeda	15–13, 15–9	Winner
2003	Bulgarian International	Conrad Hückstädt	Walkover	Winner
2003	Brazil International	Tōru Matsumoto	15–13, 15–4	Winner
2003	Slovenian International	Przemyslaw Wacha	15–7, 7–15, 15–6	Winner
2004	Swedish International	Bjorn Joppien	15–9, 15–4	Winner
2004	Iran Fajr International	Chien Yu-hsiu	15–11, 15–11	Winner
2004	Peru International	Sho Sasaki	Walkover	Runner-up
2007	Osaka International	Sho Sasaki	21–19, 14–21, 19–21	Runner-up
2008	Canadian International	Andrew Smith	21–18, 21–16	Winner

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2001	Ten Days of Dawn	Sho Sasaki	Afshin Bozorgzadeh Ali Shahhoseini	15–9, 15–12	Winner
2001	Cuba International	Sho Sasaki	Reizel Acosta Lázaro Jerez		Winner
2002	Nigeria International	Yuichi Ikeda	Dotun Akinsanya Ocholi Edicha	15–3, 15–1	Winner
2003	Iran Fajr International	Yuichi Ikeda	Shuichi Nakao Shuichi Sakamoto	4–15, 15–13, 15–5	Winner
2003	Wellington International	Yuichi Ikeda	John Gordon Daniel Shirley	5–15, 17–16, 10–15	Runner-up
2003	New Zealand International	Yuichi Ikeda	Ashley Brehaut Travis Denney	Walkover	Runner-up
2009	Estonian International	Naoki Kawamae	Andrey Ashmarin Anton Ivanov	21–13, 21–9	Winner
2009	Swedish International	Naoki Kawamae	Chris Langridge David Lindley	15–21, 21–14, 21–17	Winner
2009	Austrian International	Naoki Kawamae	Yoshiteru Hirobe Hajime Komiyama	21–19, 21–17	Winner
2009	Croatian International	Naoki Kawamae	Mads Conrad-Petersen Mads Pieler Kolding	15–21, 19–21	Runner-up
2009	Canadian International	Naoki Kawamae	Alvin Lau Li Chi-Lin	21–15, 21–12	Winner

  BWF International Challenge tournament

  BWF International Series tournament