Hina Akechi
Hina Akechi is a Japanese badminton player. A former world No. 1 in the BWF World Junior Rankings, she won the Asian Junior U-17 and U-15 championships in 2019 and 2018, respectively. She is a member of the Japanese national team and plays for the Saishunkan Pharmaceutical badminton team. On the senior circuit, she has won four International Challenge titles and reached a career-high ranking of world No. 32 in January 2026. In 2025, she won her first World Tour title at the Super 300 Syed Modi International.
Early career
Akechi began playing badminton at the age of six in her hometown of Osaka at the Uriwari Nishi SSC. She transferred from Kuze Junior High School in Osaka Prefecture to Yanai Junior High School in Yamaguchi Prefecture. She then attended Yanai Shoko High School, where she was part of a team that won four consecutive national team championships. At the 2021 National High School Championships, she won the doubles title and was a semifinalist in singles. In 2022, she won the singles title at the National High School Invitational Championships.On the international junior circuit, Akechi won the U-15 Asia Junior Championships in 2018 and the U-17 title in 2019. In 2022, she won the Croatia and Bulgaria Junior Open tournaments. At the World Junior Championships that year, she earned a bronze medal in the mixed team event and reached the girls' singles quarterfinals. On 9 May 2023, she was ranked world number 1 in the BWF World Junior Rankings for girls' singles.
Career
2022
In February, Akechi was selected for Japanese squad at the Asian Team Championships. The team received a bronze medal after withdrawing from the semifinals due to a positive COVID-19 test within the delegation. She began competing on the senior international circuit later that year at the Slovenia Future Series. Akechi finished as the runner-up in women's singles against Tomoka Miyazaki and secured the women's doubles title partnering Sorano Yoshikawa.2023
Akechi finished as runner-up at the Osaka International in March. On 1 April, she joined the Saishunkan Pharmaceutical team. Throughout the year, she secured four international titles: the Luxembourg Open, the Swedish Open, the Mauritius International, and the Réunion Open. Akechi made her World Tour debut in October at the Indonesia Masters Super 100, where she advanced to the quarterfinals. She concluded the season with a world ranking of 102.2024
Akechi reached her first World Tour final at the Super 300 Orléans Masters, finishing as runner-up to Tomoka Miyazaki. In May, she contested two consecutive International Challenge finals against compatriot Riko Gunji, defending her title at the Luxembourg Open and finished as the runner-up at the Denmark Challenge. She later advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Open. In August, Akechi won the Indonesia International title and finished runner-up at the Indonesia Masters Super 100. She made her Super 500 debut in November at the Japan Masters, losing in the first round, and ended the season with a world ranking of 41.2025
Akechi began the 2025 season with her first selection to the Japanese national team. She opened the year with a quarterfinal appearance at the German Open before losing in the first round of the Orléans Masters to Chen Yufei. Later in the season, Akechi reached the final of the Kaohsiung Masters, finishing as runner-up to Nozomi Okuhara, and advanced to the semifinals at the Malaysia Super 100 and Korea Masters. Akechi concluded the year by winning her first World Tour title at the Super 300 Syed Modi International, defeating Neslihan Arın in straight games. Following these results, she reached a career-high world ranking of 34 in December 2025.Achievements
BWF World Tour (1 title, 3 runners-up)
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation. The BWF World Tours are divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.Women's singles
| Year | Tournament | Level | Opponent | Score | Result | Ref | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | Orleans Masters | Super 300 |  silver2BWF International Challenge/Series (7 titles, 3 runners-up)Women's singles
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gold1