Wakana Nagahara

Wakana Nagahara
永原和可那
Wakana Nagahara; 永原和可那
Personal information
Country	Japan
Born	9 January 1996 (age 25); Hokkaido, Japan
Residence	Akita, Akita, Japan
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Handedness	Right
Women's & mixed doubles
Highest ranking	1 (WD 30 April 2019); 19 (XD 9 July 2019)
Current ranking	3 (WD), 30 (XD) (14 September 2021)
hide Medal record
Women's badminton
Representing Japan
World Championships
Sudirman Cup
Asian Championships
Asia Team Championships
World Junior Championships
Asian Junior Championships
	BWF profile

Wakana Nagahara (永原和可那, Nagahara Wakana, born 9 January 1996) is a Japanese badminton player.^[1] She is a two-time world champion in the women's doubles. Nagahara attended Aomori Yamada High School, and was part of the Japanese national junior team that won the bronze medals at the 2013, 2014 Asian and 2014 World Junior Championships. She won her first senior international title at the 2014 Smiling Fish International in the women's doubles event partnered with Mayu Matsumoto.^[2] In national events, she plays for the Hokuto Bank team.^[3] Nagahara was awarded as the 2018 Most Improved Player of the Year by the BWF together with her partner Mayu Matsumoto. They obtained the honour after winning the 2018 BWF World Championships title and improving their ranking from 14 to 3 in the world.^[4] On 30 April 2019, she reached a career high as the women's doubles world No. 1.

Career[]

2021[]

In March, Nagahara and her partner Mayu Matsumoto won their first World Tour Super 1000 title in the All England Open defeating their compatriots, the defending champion, and current world number 1, Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in the final.^[5] She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics partnering Matsumoto as 3rd seeds, and her pace was stopped by Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong of South Korea in the quarter-finals.^[6]

Achievements[]

BWF World Championships[]

Women's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2018	Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park, Nanjing, China	Mayu Matsumoto	Yuki Fukushima Sayaka Hirota	19–21, 21–19, 22–20	Gold
2019	St. Jakobshalle, Basel, Switzerland	Mayu Matsumoto	Yuki Fukushima Sayaka Hirota	21–11, 20–22, 23–21	Gold

Asian Championships[]

Women's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2019	Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan, China	Mayu Matsumoto	Chen Qingchen Jia Yifan	21–19, 14–21, 19–21	Silver

BWF World Tour (4 titles, 7 runners-up)[]

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,^[7] 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.^[8]

Women's doubles

Year	Tournament	Level	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2018	Indonesia Open	Super 1000	Mayu Matsumoto	Yuki Fukushima Sayaka Hirota	14–21, 21–16, 14–21	Runner-up
2018	Spain Masters	Super 300	Mayu Matsumoto	Ayako Sakuramoto Yukiko Takahata	21–17, 21–13	Winner
2018	China Open	Super 1000	Mayu Matsumoto	Misaki Matsutomo Ayaka Takahashi	16–21, 12–21	Runner-up
2018	French Open	Super 750	Mayu Matsumoto	Gabriela Stoeva Stefani Stoeva	21–14, 21–19	Winner
2018	Fuzhou China Open	Super 750	Mayu Matsumoto	Lee So-hee Shin Seung-chan	21-23, 18–21	Runner-up
2019	All England Open	Super 1000	Mayu Matsumoto	Chen Qingchen Jia Yifan	21–18, 20–22, 11–21	Runner-up
2019	Singapore Open	Super 500	Mayu Matsumoto	Kim Hye-jeong Kong Hee-yong	21–17, 22–20	Winner
2019	Japan Open	Super 750	Mayu Matsumoto	Kim So-yeong Kong Hee-yong	12–21, 12–21	Runner-up
2019	BWF World Tour Finals	World Tour Finals	Mayu Matsumoto	Chen Qingchen Jia Yifan	14–21, 10–21	Runner-up
2020	Denmark Open	Super 750	Mayu Matsumoto	Yuki Fukushima Sayaka Hirota	10–21, 21–16, 18–21	Runner-up
2021	All England Open	Super 1000	Mayu Matsumoto	Yuki Fukushima Sayaka Hirota	21–18, 21–16	Winner

BWF Grand Prix (2 titles, 4 runners-up)[]

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017.

Women's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2014	Russian Open	Mayu Matsumoto	Yuriko Miki Koharu Yonemoto	17–21, 7–21	Runner-up
2016	U.S. Open	Mayu Matsumoto	Shiho Tanaka Koharu Yonemoto	22–20, 15–21, 19–21	Runner-up
2016	Thailand Open	Mayu Matsumoto	Puttita Supajirakul Sapsiree Taerattanachai	12–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2017	Canada Open	Mayu Matsumoto	Chisato Hoshi Naru Shinoya	21–16, 16–21, 21–18	Winner
2017	U.S. Open	Mayu Matsumoto	Lee So-hee Shin Seung-chan	16–21, 13–21	Runner-up

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2016	U.S. Open	Yugo Kobayashi	Robert Mateusiak Nadieżda Zięba	21–16, 21–18	Winner

BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (1 title)[]

Women's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2014	Smiling Fish International	Mayu Matsumoto	Pacharapun Chochuwong	21–17, 21–11	Winner

BWF International Challenge tournament

BWF International Series tournament

Performance timeline[]

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

A

G

S

B

NH

N/A

(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze medal; (NH) not held; (N/A) not applicable.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

National team[]

Junior level

Team events	2013	2014
Asian Junior Championships	B	B
World Junior Championships	4th	B

Senior level

Team events	2019	2020	2021
Asia Team Championships	NH	G	NH
Sudirman Cup	S	NH	Q

Individual competitions[]

Senior level

Events	2018	2019	2020
Asian Championships	A	S (WD) 2R (XD)	NH
World Championships	G (WD)	G (WD) 3R (XD)	NH
Olympic Games	NH		QF

Tournament	BWF Superseries / Grand Prix				BWF World Tour				Best
Tournament	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	Best
German Open	A				2R (WD)	SF (WD) 1R (XD)	NH		SF ('19)
All England Open	A				SF (WD)	F (WD) 1R (XD)	QF (WD) 1R (XD)	W	W ('21)
Malaysia Masters	A		1R (WD)	A		SF (WD) 2R (XD)	w/d (WD) QF (XD)		SF ('19)
New Zealand Open	A		2R (WD)	2R (WD)	A	QF (WD)	NH		QF ('19)
Australian Open	A					QF (WD) 2R (XD)	NH		QF ('19)
Spain Masters	NH				W (WD)	A			W ('18)
Malaysia Open	A				QF (WD)	QF (WD) 1R (XD)	NH		QF ('18, '19)
Singapore Open	A					W (WD) 1R (XD)	NH		W ('19)
Korea Masters	A		QF (WD)	A			NH		QF ('16)
Thailand Open	NH	A	F (WD)	A	QF (WD)	QF (WD) 1R (XD)	w/d (WD) w/d (XD)	NH	F ('16)
Thailand Open	NH	A	F (WD)	A	QF (WD)	QF (WD) 1R (XD)	w/d (WD) w/d (XD)	NH	F ('16)
Canada Open	A	QF (WD)	A	W (WD) SF (XD)	A		NH		W ('17)
U.S. Open	A	1R (WD)	F (WD) W (XD)	F (WD) SF (XD)	A		NH		W ('16)
Russian Open	F (WD)	w/d	A				NH		F ('14)
Korea Open	A			QF (WD)	QF (WD)	2R (WD) 1R (XD)	NH		QF ('17, '18)
Chinese Taipei Open	2R (WD)	1R (WD)	A	SF (WD)	A		NH		SF ('17)
China Open	A				F (WD)	2R (WD) 1R (XD)	NH		F ('18)
Japan Open	A	1R (WD)	1R (WD) 1R (XD)	1R (WD) 1R (XD)	QF (WD)	F (WD) 1R (XD)	NH		F ('19)
Denmark Open	A				1R (WD) 1R (XD)	SF (WD) 2R (XD)	F (WD) w/d (XD)	A	F ('20)
French Open	A			SF (WD)	W (WD) QF (XD)	SF (WD) QF (XD)	NH	A	W ('18)
Macau Open	A			QF (WD)	A		NH		QF ('17)
Fuzhou China Open	A		2R (WD)	1R (WD) 1R (XD)	F (WD) 2R (XD)	SF (WD) 1R (XD)	NH		F ('18)
Hong Kong Open	A			QF (WD)	1R (WD) QF (XD)	SF (WD) 2R (XD)	NH		SF ('19)
Indonesia Masters	A			NH	A	SF (WD) QF (XD)	2R (WD) 1R (XD)		SF ('19)
Indonesia Open	A				F (WD)	QF (WD) 1R (XD)	NH		F ('18)
Superseries / World Tour Finals	DNQ				SF (WD)	F (WD)	DNQ		F ('19)
Year-end ranking	101 (WD)	94 (WD)	32 (WD) 122 (XD)	14 (WD) 94 (XD)	3 (WD) 64 (XD)	3 (WD) 25 (XD)	3 (WD) 25 (XD)		1 (WD) 19 (XD)
Tournament	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	Best

References[]

^ "Players: Wakana Nagahara". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
^ "永原和可那/ Wakana Nagahara". Smash-net.tv (in Japanese). TMONY Japan Corporation. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
^ "Wakana Nagahara 永原和可那 No. 2". Hokuto Badminton Club (in Japanese). Retrieved 8 October 2016.
^ Hearn, Don (11 December 2018). "Big winners awarded on BWF's 'Night of Nights'". Badzine. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
^ Sukumar, Dev; Pierre, Dianne (22 March 2021). "All England: Watanabe's Double the Highlight of Japan's Sweep". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
^ "Nagahara Wakana". Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 11 August 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
^ Alleyne, Gayle (19 March 2017). "BWF Launches New Events Structure". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
^ Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.

External links[]

Wakana Nagahara at BWF.tournamentsoftware.com
Wakana Nagahara at BWFbadminton.com

[1] "Players: Wakana Nagahara". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 8 October 2016.

[2] "永原和可那/ Wakana Nagahara". Smash-net.tv (in Japanese). TMONY Japan Corporation. Retrieved 7 July 2018.

[3] "Wakana Nagahara 永原和可那 No. 2". Hokuto Badminton Club (in Japanese). Retrieved 8 October 2016.

[4] Hearn, Don (11 December 2018). "Big winners awarded on BWF's 'Night of Nights'". Badzine. Retrieved 16 December 2018.

[5] Sukumar, Dev; Pierre, Dianne (22 March 2021). "All England: Watanabe's Double the Highlight of Japan's Sweep". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 26 March 2021.

[6] "Nagahara Wakana". Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 11 August 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.

[7] Alleyne, Gayle (19 March 2017). "BWF Launches New Events Structure". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.

[8] Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.

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show v t Asian badminton women's team champions
2010s	2016: Chen Yufei • He Bingjiao • Luo Ying • Luo Yu • Sun Yu • Tang Yuanting • Tian Qing • Wang Shixian • Yu Yang • Zhao Yunlei (CHN) 2018: Yuki Fukushima • Sayaka Hirota • Misaki Matsutomo • Aya Ohori • Nozomi Okuhara • Sayaka Sato • Ayaka Takahashi • Shiho Tanaka • Akane Yamaguchi • Koharu Yonemoto (JPN)
2020s	2020: Yuki Fukushima • Riko Gunji • Sayaka Hirota • Mayu Matsumoto • Nami Matsuyama • Wakana Nagahara • Aya Ohori • Chiharu Shida • Sayaka Takahashi • Akane Yamaguchi (JPN)