Nozomi Okuhara

Nozomi Okuhara
Personal information
Birth name	奥原 希望
Born	(1995-03-13) 13 March 1995 Ōmachi, Nagano, Japan
Height	1.56 m (5 ft 1 in)
Handedness	Right
Women's singles
Career record	241 Win, 78 Loss
Highest ranking	3 (17 November 2016)
Current ranking	7 (4 October 2018)
Medal record Women's badminton Representing  Japan Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Women's singles World Championships 2017 Glasgow Women's singles Sudirman Cup 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

Nozomi Okuhara (奥原 希望, Okuhara Nozomi, born 13 March 1995)^[1] is a Japanese badminton player who is a singles specialist, well known for her speed, agility and endurance. She won a bronze medal in the 2016 Olympics.^[2] She became the 2017 world champion in Glasgow, Scotland after defeating India's P. V. Sindhu in the finals.

Career

In 2011, the then 16-year-old Nozomi Okuhara became the youngest women's singles champion ever at the All Japan Badminton Championships, which are the Japanese National Badminton Championships. She won a BWF World junior title in the girls singles event at the 2012 BWF World Junior Championships after reaching the semi-finals, having won bronze one year earlier at the 2011 BWF World Junior Championships.

She was a runner-up at the 2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships. Also in 2012, she won her first Grand Prix title at the 2012 Canada Open Grand Prix. In 2013, she was mainly absent from the court due to knee injury. She won her first BWF Super Series title at the 2015 Japan Super Series.

In 2016, she won the prestigious All England Open and thereby became the first Japanese women's singles player to lift this title in the past 39 years.^[3] She also won the bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She lost to P.V. Sindhu in the semi-finals, but won the bronze medal against Li Xuerui of China in a walkover.

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]

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
2017	Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Scotland	P. V. Sindhu	21–19, 20–22, 22–20	Gold

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

The BWF World Tour, announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,^[5] 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.^[6]

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Level	Opponent	Score	Result
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

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

The BWF Grand Prix has two level such as Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments, sanctioned by 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

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

References

External links

• Nozomi Okuhara at BWF.tournamentsoftware.com
• Nozomi Okuhara at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com