Ayaka Takahashi
Ayaka Takahashi is a retired Japanese badminton player who was affiliated with Unisys badminton team. She is an Olympic Games gold medalist, two-time Asian Champion, two-time Asian Games silver medalist, and World Championship bronze medalist.
Playing for the Unisys team with her regular partner Misaki Matsutomo in the women's doubles, she won five National Championships titles. In the international event, Takahashi and Matsutomo were ranked world number ones in October 2014. They won numerous international titles, including the year-end tournament finals in 2014 and 2018; the historical All England Open in 2016; the Olympic Games in [Badminton at the Badminton at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's doubles|2016 Summer Olympics|2016]; and also the Asian Championships in 2016 and 2017. The duo won the Badminton World Federation's Female Player of the Year award in 2016.
Takahashi was also a member of the victorious Japanese team at the 2017 Asia Mixed Team Championships and of the victorious women's team at the 2018 Asia Team Championships, [Badminton at the 2018 Indonesia Masters|2018 Asian Games – Women's team|2018 Asian Games], and the 2018 Uber Cup.
Career
In 2016, Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo won the women's doubles gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, became the first ever Japan's to win an Olympic badminton gold medal. She and her women's doubles partner Matsutomo also honored with the Female Player of the Year award. They are playing together for more than ten years, ever since they were schoolmates. Takahashi and Matsutomo became the first pair from outside China to win the women's Olympic doubles title since the 1996 Atlanta Games, giving Japan its second medal in the event after Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa took silver at the 2012 London Olympic Games.Takahashi announced her retirement in an online conference on 19 August 2020, and officially left the national and Unisys team at the end of August.
Personal life
Takahashi is the older sister of Sayaka Takahashi, a singles badminton player. In 2020, Ayaka announced that she had married Yuki Kaneko, a teammate in both the Japanese national and Unisys teams. Kaneko is also Matsutomo's mixed doubles partner. Takahashi announced the birth of her first child, a daughter, on her Instagram on 23 February 2022.Achievements
Olympic Games
Women's doubles| Year | Venue | Partner | Opponent | Score | Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | Riocentro - Pavilion 4, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |  BWF World ChampionshipsWomen's doubles
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