Akane Yamaguchi

Akane Yamaguchi (山口茜, Yamaguchi Akane, born 6 June 1997 in Fukui Prefecture)^[1] is a female Japanese badminton player who is singles specialist. She is one of the Japanese teenage prodigies that many people predict to be future elite women's singles competitors. She reached the finals of the BWF World Junior Championships three years in a row, winning silver at the 2012 BWF World Junior Championships in Chiba, Japan and winning the gold twice, once at the 2013 BWF World Junior Championships in Bangkok, Thailand and once at the 2014 BWF World Junior Championships in Alor Setar, Malaysia. At the age of 16 years and 3 months, Yamaguchi became the youngest player ever to win the BWF Super Series tournament by beating her compatriot Shizuka Uchida in the final of 2013 Japan Super Series. This was also the first time ever that a Japanese lady won the home event in the ladies singles at the Japan Open. This was in fact a historic first ever Japan Open victory for the home country.

Achievements

Year	Tournament	Result	Opponent	Score
2015
	2015 Bitburger Open	Winner	Busanan Ongbamrungphan	16-21, 21-14, 21-13
	2015 Japan Super Series	Runner-Up	Nozomi Okuhara	18-21, 12-21
2014
	2014 China Open Super Series Premier	Runner-Up	Saina Nehwal	12-21, 20-22
	2014 World Junior Championships	Winner	He Bingjiao	14-21, 21-18, 21-13
	2014 Asian Junior Championships	Winner	Chen Yufei	21-10, 21-15
2013
	2013 World Junior Championships	Winner	Aya Ohori	21-11, 21-13
	2013 Japan Super Series	Winner	Shizuka Uchida	21-15, 21-19
	2013 New Zealand Open Grand Prix	Runner-Up	Deng Xuan	17-21, 21-18, 20-22
	2013 Osaka International Challenge	Runner-Up	Kaori Imabeppu	20-22, 16-21
2012
2012	2012 World Junior Championships	Runner-Up	Nozomi Okuhara	12-21, 9-21

^ "Akane YAMAGUCHI Player Profile". bwf.tournamentsoftware.com. Retrieved 18 February 2016.