Tomoka Miyazaki
Tomoka Miyazaki is a Japanese badminton player. She was the world junior champion winning the girls' singles title in 2022.
Career
2022
In 2022, Miyazaki primarily competed on the international junior circuit. In June, she earned the runner-up position at the Malaysia Junior International. In October, as a first-year student at Yanai Shoko High School, she won the girls' singles title at the World Junior Championships in Santander, Spain. This victory marked her as the fourth Japanese player to claim the title, following Nozomi Okuhara, Akane Yamaguchi, and Riko Gunji. She also contributed to Japan's bronze medal in the mixed team event at the same championships. Miyazaki finished the year by winning her first senior-level tournament, capturing the women's singles title at the Slovenia Future Series in November.2023
In 2023, Miyazaki joined the Japanese national B team and competed in both international junior and senior tournaments. In July, she contributed to Japan's first gold medal at the Asian Junior Championships since 2012. By the end of the year, she achieved the world #1 position in the BWF World Junior Ranking.On the International Challenge circuit, Miyazaki won the singles title at the Saipan International in June, following a runner-up finish at the Northern Marianas Open the previous week. In August, she secured the singles title at the Guatemala Future Series and was runner-up in the women's doubles with Maya Taguchi.
Miyazaki won her first BWF World Tour title at the Indonesia Masters II in October and reached her first Super 300 final at the Korea Masters in November, where she finished as runner-up. She also advanced to the second round of the Japan Masters and the Syed Modi International. Miyazaki rose from a world ranking of No. 431 at the start of 2023 to a career-high No. 39 by the end of the year.
2024
In 2024, Miyazaki joined the Japanese A National Team. In March, she won her first Super 300 title at the Orléans Masters, defeating compatriot Hina Akechi in the final. The following week, she reached the Swiss Open semi-finals, defeating former world champion P. V. Sindhu in the second round before losing to Olympic champion Carolina Marín. From April to May, she contributed to Japan’s bronze medal at Uber Cup in Chengdu, China.In September, Miyazaki reached her first Super 1000 final at the China Open, finishing as runner-up to Wang Zhiyi. She also consistently reached the semi-finals at five other tournaments: the Hong Kong Open, Macau Open, Arctic Open, Korea Masters, and the China Masters.
Domestically, Miyazaki won the team and singles titles at the Inter-High School Championships in August. In December, she claimed the women's singles title at the All Japan Badminton Championships, defeating Natsuki Nidaira in the final, becoming the fourth high school student to win the national championship. She concluded the year with a career-high world ranking of No. 12.
2025
In 2025, Tomoka Miyazaki joined the Japanese national team and turned professional, joining ACT Saikyo in April upon high school graduation. She reached a career-high world ranking of No. 6 on 10 June. On the BWF World Tour, she won her first title of the year at the Taipei Open in May and advanced to the semi-finals of the India Open and the [2025 2025 Thailand Open (badminton)|Thailand Open (badminton)|Thailand Open]. At the Thailand Open, she defeated Ratchanok Intanon in the quarter-finals before being eliminated by Chen Yufei. She also reached the All England Open quarter-finals, losing to compatriot Akane Yamaguchi. In team competitions, Miyazaki contributed to Japan's bronze medals at the Asia Mixed Team Championships in February and the Sudirman Cup in April–May.2026
Miyazaki opened the season with a second-round exit at the Malaysia Open.Awards
In 2024, Miyazaki received a 1.2 million yen grant from the Kozuki Foundation's Athlete Support Program, which aids promising young high school and university athletes. The foundation presented the award at ceremony in Tokyo on 18 December.In 2025, Miyazaki was honored with the 2024 Yonex Sports Foundation Minoru Yoneyama Award for her contributions to junior sports promotion. She shared the award with fellow badminton player Aya Tamaki, and it was presented at a ceremony in Tokyo on 17 June 2025.
Achievements
World Junior Championships
Girls' singles| Year | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Ref | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | Palacio de Deportes de Santander, Santander, Spain |  BWF World Tour (3 titles, 2 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
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gold1
gold1