Kokona Ishikawa
Kokona Ishikawa is a Japanese badminton player who specializes in doubles. A bronze medalist in girls' doubles at the 2022 World Junior Championships, she has won a World Tour Super 100 title at the 2025 Kaohsiung Masters. Ishikawa achieved a career-high women's doubles ranking of No. 26 on 27 January 2026. A former member of the Japanese national team, she plays for the Gifu Bluvic badminton team.
Early career
Born in Tokyo, Ishikawa attended Aomori Yamada Junior and Senior High Schools, where she won several national titles. In 2021, she and Hina Osawa won the girls' doubles title at the National High School Invitational Tournament, for which they received the All Japan High School Athletic Federation's Excellent Player Award. She also won the All Japan Junior Open doubles with Miyu Ogasawara.The following year, she partnered with Riko Kiyose to win the girls' doubles title at the National High School Championships. As team captain, she also led Aomori Yamada to a second consecutive victory in the girls' team event at the National Sports Festival. For these achievements, Ishikawa and Kiyose were presented with the 17th Tō-Ō Nippō Sports Award.
On the international junior circuit in 2022, Ishikawa won the girls' singles title at the Malaysia Junior International, defeating compatriot Tomoka Miyazaki in the final. She won two bronze medals at the 2022 World Junior Championships, in the mixed team event and in girls' doubles with Kiyose. The pair was defeated in the semifinals by the eventual champions, Liu Shengshu and Wang Tingge of China. At her high school graduation on 1 March 2023, Ishikawa received the school's Chairman's Special Award. She joined the NTT East badminton team in April 2023.
Career
2023–2024: Senior debut and first international title
Ishikawa partnered with Mio Konegawa from 2023 to 2024, and the pair was selected for the 2024 Japanese national team. With Konegawa, she won her first senior international title at the 2024 Saipan International. The pair also finished as runners-up at four tournaments: the 2023 Thailand International, the 2023 Bahrain International, the 2024 Vietnam International, and the 2024 Denmark Challenge. They achieved a career-high women's doubles ranking of No. 35 on 10 December 2024.2025: First World Tour title
In 2025, Ishikawa transferred to the Gifu Bluvic badminton team and formed a new partnership with Ririna Hiramoto. The duo won the Northern Marianas Open in August; at the same tournament, Ishikawa finished as the mixed doubles runner-up with Haruki Kawabe.Later that year, Ishikawa and Hiramoto secured their first BWF World Tour title at the Super 100 Kaohsiung Masters in September. They also finished as runners-up at the Super 100 Indonesia Masters I and reached the semifinals of the Indonesia Masters II. The pair concluded the 2025 season with a semifinal appearance at the Super 500 Australian Open.
2026
Ishikawa and Hiramoto opened the season with a Super 1000 debut at the Malaysia Open. The pair advanced to the quarter-finals, where they were defeated by the eventual champions, Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning. Following this tournament, Ishikawa achieved a career-high world ranking of 27 on 13 January.Achievements
World Junior Championships
Girls' doubles| Year | Venue | Partner | Opponent | Score | Result | Ref | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | Palacio de Deportes de Santander, Santander, Spain | ![]() BWF World Tour (1 title, 1 runner-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 Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.Women's doubles
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