Rui Hirokami

Career 2022: First World Tour title and world No. 25 ranking In 2022, Rui Hirokami partnered with Yuna Kato in women's doubles. On the BWF World Tour, they finished as runners-up at the Super 300 Taipei Open and the Super 100 Canada Open. They won their first BWF World Tour title at the Indonesia Masters Super 100, defeating compatriots Rena Miyaura and Ayako Sakuramoto in the final. Hirokami and Kato also won two International Challenge titles at the Mexican International and the Belgian International. That year, Hirokami contributed to Japan's bronze medal at the Asia Team Championships in Selangor. Starting the year unranked, they elevated their world ranking to No. 25 by 26 December 2022.

2023: Korea Masters runner-up and career-high world ranking Hirokami and Kato reaching a career-high world ranking of No. 18 on 23 May 2023. Their best result on the BWF World Tour was a runners-up finish at the Super 300 Korea Masters, where they lost to South Korea's Jeong Na-eun and Kim Hye-jeong. They also reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open and the quarterfinals of the Swiss Open. Mid-year, Hirokami formed a temporary partnership with Rui Kiyama, reaching the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Masters Super 100. She reunited with Kato for the Japan Masters in November, where they exited in the second round.

2025: New partnership In March, Hirokami transferred to the Yonex badminton team and partnered with Sayaka Hobara, stating ambition to compete at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. The following week, they reached the semifinals of the Super 500 Thailand Open as qualifiers, marking a career-best World Tour performance for both players. They became the first qualifying doubles pair in any discipline to reach the Thailand Open semifinals since 2013. They later reached the semifinals of the Super 500 Hong Kong Open; en route, they upset the newly crowned world champions Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning, as well as the fourth-seeded pair of Li Yijing and Luo Xumin.

Achievements BWF World Tour (1 title, 4 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 (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.

Women's doubles Year Tournament Level Partner Opponent Score Result Ref 2022 Taipei Open Super 300 Yuna Kato Ng Tsz Yau Tsang Hiu Yan 15–21, 21–18, 19–21 Runner-up 2022 Indonesia Masters Super 100 Yuna Kato Rena Miyaura Ayako Sakuramoto 23–21, 21–18 Winner 2022 Belgian International Yuna Kato Chang Ching-hui Yang Ching-tun 21–7, 21–15 Winner

BWF Junior International Grand Prix tournament

Record against selected opponents Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 23 August 2026.

Yuna Kato Players Liu Shengshu & Tan Ning 2 0 2 –2 Zhang Shuxian & Zheng Yu 2 0 2 –2 Treesa Jolly & Gayatri Gopichand 1 1 0 +1 Yuki Fukushima & Sayaka Hirota 1 0 1 –1 Mayu Matsumoto & Wakana Nagahara 2 0 2 –2 Pearly Tan & Thinaah Muralitharan 2 0 2 –2 Baek Ha-na & Lee So-hee 2 0 2 –2 Kim So-yeong & Kong Hee-yong 1 0 1 –1 Benyapa Aimsaard & Nuntakarn Aimsaard 1 0 1 –1

Sayaka Hobara Players Gabriela Stoeva & Stefani Stoeva 3 2 1 +1 Chen Qingchen & Jia Yifan 1 0 1 –1 Li Yijing & Luo Xumin 2 1 1 0 Liu Shengshu & Tan Ning 2 1 1 0 Treesa Jolly & Gayatri Gopichand 1 1 0 +1 Yuki Fukushima & Mayu Matsumoto 2 0 2 –2 Rin Iwanaga & Kie Nakanishi 3 0 3 –3 Nami Matsuyama & Chiharu Shida 1 0 1 –1 Pearly Tan & Thinaah Muralitharan 3 1 2 –1 Baek Ha-na & Lee So-hee 1 0 1 –1