Yudai Okimoto
Yudai Okimoto is a Japanese badminton player. He is a member of the Japan national [badminton team|Japanese national team] and plays for the BIPROGY team. As a junior, he won a team gold medal and a boys' singles silver medal at the 2023 Asian Junior Championships. He won his first senior international title at the 2024 Finnish International. On the World Tour, his best achievement is a runner-up finish at the 2025 Korea Masters, a Super 300 tournament.
Early life
Born and raised in Hiroshima, Okimoto was primarily interested in baseball. An avid fan of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, he played third base in a youth league. His childhood dream was to become a professional baseball player. His idol was not a badminton star but Carp infielder Tetsuya Kokubo.Okimoto began playing badminton at age six and pursued it alongside baseball. He spent his weekends practicing badminton on Saturday mornings and playing baseball in the afternoons. A turning point occurred when he won the All-Japan Elementary School Championships for three consecutive years, beginning in 2015, while training with the Hara Junior Club. Following these achievements, he decided to focus exclusively on badminton. He credits his baseball background, particularly playing third base, for contributing to his defensive instincts and shoulder strength in badminton. His court movement is described as reminiscent of a baseball infielder's.
Career
2023: Junior career and World Tour debut
Okimoto attended Saitama Sakae Junior and Senior High Schools in Saitama Prefecture. In 2023, his final year of high school, he secured a triple crown at the National High School Invitational Tournament, winning the team, boys' singles, and boys' doubles events. He subsequently won the boys' singles and doubles titles at the National High School Championships.Internationally, Okimoto won back-to-back titles on the 2023 European junior circuit, defeating Hu Zhe'an at the Dutch Junior International final and Eogene Ewe at the German Junior final. At the 2023 Asian Junior Championships, he helped Japan secure its first mixed team gold medal in 11 years and earned a silver medal in boys' singles. He concluded his junior career with a quarterfinal finish at the World Junior Championships.
In 2023, while still in high school, Okimoto was selected for the Japanese national B team, playing men's doubles with Daigo Tanioka. On their World Tour debut at the Indonesia Masters Super 100 I, they defeated former world No. 1 Tan Wee Kiong and his partner, Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub.
2024: First international title
Okimoto joined BIPROGY Badminton Team on 1 April 2024, shifting his focus to men's singles. That year, he won his first senior title at the Finnish International, followed by a victory at the Mauritius International and a runner-up finish at the Réunion Open.2025: First Super 300 final and World Top 50
In 2025, Okimoto reached consecutive finals in the Northern Mariana Islands, winning the Northern Marianas Open and finishing as runner-up at the Saipan International. He later reached his first World Tour final at the Malaysia Super 100, finishing as runner-up. He subsequently finished runner-up at his first Super 300 final at the Korea Masters. Okimoto entered the world top 50 for the first time, reaching a career-high ranking of world number 42 on 16 December 2025.Achievements
Asian Junior Championships
Boys' singles| Year | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Ref | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | Among Rogo Sports Hall, Yogyakarta, Indonesia |  BWF World Tour (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 Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.Men's singles
|
gold1
gold1
col-end