Nozomi Okuhara

Nozomi Okuhara (奥原 希望, Okuhara Nozomi, born 13 March 1995)[1] is a Japanese badminton player and the former World's No. 1 in BWF rankings for the women's singles, well known for her speed, agility and endurance. She won a bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics,[2] and gold medal at the 2017 World Championships.

Nozomi Okuhara
奥原 希望
Okuhara at Australia Open Super Series 2017
Personal information
Birth nameNozomi Okuhara
Country Japan
Born (1995-03-13) 13 March 1995
Ōmachi, Nagano, Japan
Height1.56 m (5 ft 1 in)
Weight51 kg (112 lb)
HandednessRight
Women's singles
Career record312 wins, 103 losses
Highest ranking1 (29 October 2019)
Current ranking4 (17 March 2020)
Medal record
Women's badminton
Representing  Japan
Olympic Games
2016 Rio de Janeiro Women's singles
World Championships
2017 Glasgow Women's singles
2019 Basel Women's singles
Sudirman Cup
2019 Nanning Mixed team
2015 Dongguan Mixed team
2017 Gold Coast Mixed team
Uber Cup
2018 Bangkok Women's team
2016 Kunshan Women's team
Asian Games
2018 Jakarta Women's team
Asia Team Championships
2018 Alor Setar Women's team
2016 Hyderabad Women's team
World Junior Championships
2012 Chiba Girls' singles
2012 Chiba Mixed team
2011 Taipei Girls' singles
Asian Junior Championships
2012 Gimcheon Mixed team
2012 Gimcheon Girls' singles
BWF profile

Career summary

Okuhara started playing badminton since 2002. Eight years later, precisely in 2010 she joined the Japanese national team. The 2010 Osaka International Challenge became her international debut.

2011

In 2011, the 16-year-old Okuhara became the youngest women's singles champion ever at the Japanese National Badminton Championships.

2012

Okuhara was a runner-up at the Asian Junior Championships, and helps the team won the mixed team title. She later clinched the gold medal at the World Junior Championships, having won bronze one year earlier at the 2011 BWF World Junior Championships. In July, she won her first Grand Prix title at the Canada Open.

2013

In 2013, she suffered a severe knee injury and was absent from an international tournament for 1 year.

2015

In 2015, Okuhara won first Superseries title at Japan Open in the final defeating her great colleague Akane Yamaguchi with a score of 21–18, 21–12. At the end of the 2015 BWF season, she won the Dubai Superseries final where in the preliminary round and semifinals she succeeded in defeating world number 1 player Carolina Marin and in the final she beat Wang Yihan with a score of 22–20, 21–18.

2016

In 2016, she won the prestigious All England Open after defeating Wang Shixian in the final with score 21–11, 16–21, 21–19, and thereby became the first Japanese women's singles player to lift this title in the past 39 years.[3] She won the bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She lost to P.V. Sindhu in the semi-finals, but won the bronze medal match against Li Xuerui of China in a walkover.

2017

At the 2017 BWF World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, Okuhara reached the finals after back-to-back wins against both finalists from the 2015 BWF World Championships, Carolina Marín of Spain and Saina Nehwal of India. In a hard-fought final, featuring the longest match of the entire tournament, Okuhara then defeated P. V. Sindhu, winning by 21–19, 20–22, 22–20 in almost 2 hours.[4]

2018

Okuhara started the year after coming back from knee injury. She reached the quarterfinals of All England Open but was defeated by her long-time rival P. V. Sindhu of India in three games.

In May, Okuhara helped Japan to win the Uber Cup after Japan beat Thailand by 3–0 in the final. Okuhara didn't lose any of her match in Uber cup.

Okuhara went to World Championships in Nanjing as defending champion but could not defend her title of 2017 after she lost to the player she beat in 2017 final P. V. Sindhu in 2 straight games in quarterfinals.

At that year, she reached five finals and won 3 among them: Thailand, Korea, and Hong Kong Opens. She completed the year ranked as number 2 in race to Guangzhou rankings and qualified for World Tour Finals. At the 2018 BWF World Tour Finals in Tianhe, Guangzhou, China, Okuhara reached the finals but lost in straight games, 19–21, 17–21, to P. V. Sindhu of India.[5]

2019

In August, Okuhara had to settle for a silver medal at the 2019 BWF World Championships held in Basel, Switzerland after losing the World title to P.V. Sindhu of India with a score of 7–21, 7–21 in 36 minutes of the match. She succeeded in occupying the Ranking 1 of the world shifting Tai Tzu-ying on 29 October 2019.

She also contested the Denmark Open final, where she lost to Tai Tzu-ying with 17–21, 14–21 scores. She was the runner-up in 6th straight tournament, after her defeat in the hands of Chen Yufei in Fuzhou China Open with the scores 21–9, 12–21, 18–21. She took part in World Tour Finals in Guangzhou where she had best of starts; defeating all her opponents of group stage. But in semi finals, she was beaten by Tai Tzu-ying whom she has beaten in group stage earlier.

2020

Okuhara started the season as the quarter-finalists in Malaysia Masters after getting unexpected defeat from Chinese He Bingjiao 17–21, 10–21.[6] Competed as the third seeds at the Indonesia Masters, she suffered an early upset had beaten by Carolina Marín in the second round with a score of 13–21, 15–21.[7] In March, she stopped in the semi-finals of All England Open to world number 1 Chen Yufei in a close straight games.[8]

Achievements

Olympic Games

Women's singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2016 Riocentro – Pavilion 4, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Li Xuerui Walkover Bronze

BWF World Championships

Women's singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2019 St. Jakobshalle, Basel, Switzerland P. V. Sindhu 7–21, 7–21 Silver
2017 Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Scotland P. V. Sindhu 21–19, 20–22, 22–20 Gold

BWF World Junior Championships

Girls' singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2012 Chiba Port Arena, Chiba, Japan Akane Yamaguchi 21–12, 21–9 Gold
2011 Taoyuan Arena, Taoyuan& Taipei, Chinese Taipei Ratchanok Inthanon 16–21, 16–21 Bronze

Asian Junior Championships

Girls' singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2012 Gimcheon Indoor Stadium, Gimcheon, South Korea P. V. Sindhu 21–18, 17–21, 20–22 Silver

BWF World Tour (3 titles, 8 runners-up)

The BWF World Tour, announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[9] is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.[10]

Women's singles

Year Tournament Level Opponent Score Result
2019 Fuzhou China Open Super 750 Chen Yufei 21–9, 12–21, 18–21 Runner-up
2019 Denmark Open Super 750 Tai Tzu-ying 17–21, 14–21 Runner-up
2019 Japan Open Super 750 Akane Yamaguchi 13–21, 15–21 Runner-up
2019 Australian Open Super 300 Chen Yufei 15–21, 3–21 Runner-up
2019 Singapore Open Super 500 Tai Tzu-ying 19–21, 15–21 Runner-up
2018 BWF World Tour Finals World Tour Finals P. V. Sindhu 19–21, 17–21 Runner-up
2018 Hong Kong Open Super 500 Ratchanok Intanon 21–19, 24–22 Winner
2018 Fuzhou China Open Super 750 Chen Yufei 10–21, 16–21 Runner-up
2018 Korea Open Super 500 Zhang Beiwen 21–10, 17–21, 21–16 Winner
2018 Japan Open Super 750 Carolina Marín 19–21, 21–17, 11–21 Runner-up
2018 Thailand Open Super 500 P. V. Sindhu 21–15, 21–18 Winner

BWF Superseries (4 titles, 3 runners-up)

The BWF Superseries, launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries has two levels: Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries features twelve tournaments around the world, which introduced since 2011, with successful players invited to the Superseries Finals held at the year end.

Women's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
2017 Korea Open P. V. Sindhu 22–20, 11–21, 21–18 Runner-up
2017 Australian Open Akane Yamaguchi 21–12, 21–23, 21–17 Winner
2016 All England Open Wang Shixian 21–11, 16–21, 21–19 Winner
2015 World Superseries Finals Wang Yihan 22–20, 21–18 Winner
2015 Hong Kong Open Carolina Marín 17–21, 21–18, 20–22 Runner-up
2015 Japan Open Akane Yamaguchi 21–18, 21–12 Winner
2014 Hong Kong Open Tai Tzu-ying 19–21, 11–21 Runner-up
     BWF Superseries Finals tournament
     BWF Superseries Premier tournament
     BWF Superseries tournament

BWF Grand Prix (6 titles)

The BWF Grand Prix has two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007.

Women's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
2015 U.S. Open Sayaka Sato 21–16, 21–14 Winner
2015 Malaysia Masters Sayaka Takahashi 21–13, 21–17 Winner
2014 Korea Masters Sayaka Sato 21–17, 21–13 Winner
2014 Vietnam Open Aya Ohori 21–15, 21–11 Winner
2014 New Zealand Open Kana Ito 21–15, 21–3 Winner
2012 Canada Open Sayaka Takahashi 21–8, 21–16 Winner
     BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament
     BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Women's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
2015 China International Chen Yufei 21–19, 21–16 Winner
2011 Austrian International Mayu Sekiya 21–6, 21–16 Winner
2010 Lao International Nitchaon Jindapol 16–21, 17–21 Runner-up
     BWF International Challenge tournament

Career overview

Record against selected opponents

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 14 March 2020.[11]

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gollark: The US is the nonnegative rational integer between -7 and 2π.
gollark: *I* didn't.
gollark: The UK isn't even in the EU.
gollark: I might convert you also into leptons.

References
  1. "Nozomi OKUHARA: Full Profile". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  2. "Olympics: Nozomi Okuhara takes badminton bronze as injured Li Xuerui pulls out - report". The Straits Times. 19 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  3. "Nozomi Okuhara Beats Wang Shixian to Win Her First All England Badminton Title". NDTV. 13 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  4. "Okuhara wins drama-filled finale to claim world championship". The Japan Times. 28 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  5. "PV Sindhu Scripts History, Becomes 1st Indian To Win BWF World Tour Finals". sports.ndtv.com. 18 December 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  6. "Tai is too good for Sindhu, Marin roars past timid Nehwal". www.bangkokpost.com. 11 January 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  7. Indartiningrum, Naomi (16 January 2020). "INDONESIA MASTERS R16 – Not a good day for the seeded". www.badzine.net. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  8. Houston, Michael (14 March 2020). "Top seeds to meet in men's singles final of All England Open Badminton Championships". www.insidethegames.biz. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  9. "BWF Launches New Events Structure". Badminton World Federation. 29 November 2017.
  10. "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. 15 January 2018.
  11. "Nozomi Okuhara Head to Head". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
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