Wakana Nagahara


Wakana Nagahara is a Japanese badminton player. She is a two-time world champion in the women's doubles. Nagahara who educated at the Aomori Yamada High School, 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. In national events, she plays for the Hokuto Bank team. 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. On 30 April 2019, she reached a career high as the women's doubles world No. 1.

Achievements

BWF World Championships

Women's doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2019St. Jakobshalle,
Basel, Switzerland		 Mayu Matsumoto Yuki Fukushima
Sayaka Hirota		21–11, 20–22, 23–21 Gold
2018Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park,
Nanjing, China		 Mayu Matsumoto Yuki Fukushima
Sayaka Hirota		19–21, 21–19, 22–20 Gold

Asian Championships

Women's doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2019Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium,
Wuhan, China		 Mayu Matsumoto Chen Qingchen
Jia Yifan		21–19, 14–21, 19–21 Silver

BWF World Tour (3 titles, 6 runners-up)

The BWF World Tour, announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation. The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.
Women's doubles
YearTournamentLevelPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2019BWF World Tour FinalsWorld Tour Finals Mayu Matsumoto Chen Qingchen
Jia Yifan		14–21, 10–21 Runner-up
2019Japan OpenSuper 750 Mayu Matsumoto Kim So-yeong
Kong Hee-yong		12–21, 12–21 Runner-up
2019Singapore OpenSuper 500 Mayu Matsumoto Kim Hye-jeong
Kong Hee-yong		21–17, 22–20 Winner
2019All England OpenSuper 1000 Mayu Matsumoto Chen Qingchen
Jia Yifan		21–18, 20–22, 11–21 Runner-up
2018Fuzhou China OpenSuper 750 Mayu Matsumoto Lee So-hee
Shin Seung-chan		21–23, 18–21 Runner-up
2018French OpenSuper 750 Mayu Matsumoto Gabriela Stoeva
Stefani Stoeva		21–14, 21–19 Winner
2018China OpenSuper 1000 Mayu Matsumoto Misaki Matsutomo
Ayaka Takahashi		16–21, 12–21 Runner-up
2018Spain MastersSuper 300 Mayu Matsumoto Ayako Sakuramoto
Yukiko Takahata		21–17, 21–13 Winner
2018Indonesia OpenSuper 1000 Mayu Matsumoto Yuki Fukushima
Sayaka Hirota		14–21, 21–16, 14–21 Runner-up

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

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 since 2007.
Women's doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2017U.S. Open Mayu Matsumoto Lee So-hee
Shin Seung-chan		16–21, 13–21 Runner-up
2017Canada Open Mayu Matsumoto Chisato Hoshi
Naru Shinoya		21–16, 16–21, 21–18 Winner
2016Thailand Open Mayu Matsumoto Puttita Supajirakul
Sapsiree Taerattanachai		12–21, 17–21 Runner-up
2016U.S. Open Mayu Matsumoto Shiho Tanaka
Koharu Yonemoto		22–20, 15–21, 19–21 Runner-up
2014Russian Open Mayu Matsumoto Yuriko Miki
Koharu Yonemoto		17–21, 7–21 Runner-up

Mixed doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2016U.S. Open Yugo Kobayashi Robert Mateusiak
Nadiezda Zieba		21–16, 21–18 Winner

BWF International Challenge/Series (1 title)

Women's doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2014Smiling Fish International Mayu Matsumoto Pacharapun Chochuwong
Chanisa Teachavorasinskun		21–17, 21–11 Winner

Performance timeline

National team

Team events20132014
Asian Junior Championships Bronze Bronze
World Junior Championships4th Bronze

Team events20192020
Asia Team Championships Gold
Sudirman Cup Silver

Individual competitions

Events20182019
Asian ChampionshipsA Silver
R2
World Championships Gold Gold
R3