Yuta Watanabe

is a Japanese badminton player. He is a former member of the Japanese national team and joined J-Power in April 2025. He is known for his quick and explosive movements with signature drop shots. Partnered with Arisa Higashino, Watanabe won consecutive mixed doubles bronze medals at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics. The pair has also secured four medals at the BWF World Championships.

Career Early years Watanabe started his career in badminton when he joined the Kodaira junior club in Tokyo in 2005. He had shown his talent in badminton when he won some national event when he was in the elementary school. He made a partnership with Arisa Higashino as his senior in Tomioka Dai-ichi Junior High School in 2012.

Watanabe was selected to join national junior team competed at the 2014 Asian Junior Championships, and helped the team win the mixed team bronze medal. He also settled for another bronze medal in the boys' doubles event partnered with Kenya Mitsuhashi. At the World Junior Championships in Alor Setar, Malaysia, he won the bronze medals in the mixed doubles event with Arisa Higashino and in the mixed team event. In June 2014, he made his first appearance in the senior international event at the Japan Open, competed in the mixed doubles with Higashino, but the duo was defeated in the first round. He captured two titles at the 2014 Korea Junior Open in the boys' and mixed doubles event teamed-up with Mitsuhashi and Chiharu Shida respectively.

Watanabe started the 2015 season, by winning the boys' doubles title at the Dutch Junior tournament with Kenya Mitsuhashi, and finished as the semi-finalists in the mixed doubles with Chiharu Shida, and later won the mixed doubles title in German Junior tournament. In July, he competed at the Asian Junior Championships, clinched the bronze medals in the boys' singles and mixed team events. He reached his first final in the senior international event at the 2015 Russian Open a BWF Grand Prix tournament, where he and his partner Higashino defeated by Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying. At the Danish Junior Cup, he clinched two titles by winning the boys' singles and doubles events. In November, he won the boys' doubles bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in Lima, Peru.

In 2016, Watanabe won his first senior title at Vietnam International Challenge in the mixed doubles paired-up with Higashino, besides that he became a runner-up in the men's doubles with Mitsuhashi. In 2017, Watanabe started a new partnership with Hiroyuki Endo in the men's doubles. The notional points they both have managed them to compete in the Superseries event; while he and Higashino also have sufficient ranking to entered the Superseries stage. The best achievement during the season is to reach the semi-finals at German Open and Malaysia Masters in the men's doubles, and also semi-finals at the All England Open in the mixed doubles.

2018: Break to top 5 BWF rankings in both mixed and men's doubles; All England Open title Significant progress occurs in 2018 season. Watanabe with his partner Higashino in the mixed doubles and Endo in the men's doubles are able to break the international doubles stage by reaching third and five place in the BWF rankings. Watanabe and Higashino became the first mixed doubles from Japan to win the All England Open since the tournament was first contested in 1899. En route to the finals, they beat the top three seeds, and then clinched the title after defeating the fifth seeded pair Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in the rubber game. Besides that, the duo finished in the semi-finals at the Malaysia, Japan, French, and Fuzhou China Opens; and in the year-end tournament BWF World Tour Finals. Meanwhile, paired with Endo, they won the Korea Open title; and finished as finalists in the Malaysia Open, Thailand Open, and World Tour Finals. Watanabe also part of the Japanese national team that won the silver medal in the Thomas Cup and the bronze in the Asian Games.

2019: Asian Champions In the first half of the 2019 season, Watanabe has collected three titles, two in the men's doubles at the German Open and Asian Championships; and also a title in the mixed doubles at the Malaysia Masters. At the Asian Championships, Watanabe and Endo beating the top seeds and current World number 1, Gideon and Sukamuljo with a landslide score of 21–18, 21–3. and the finals in the men's doubles at the New Zealand Open. Together with the National team, he won the silver medal at the Asia Mixed Team Championships and at the Sudirman Cup.

In the second half of 2019 season, Watanabe has won a title in the mixed doubles. Together with Higashino, they defended the Hong Kong Open title. Their journey in the remainder of the season does look quite difficult. In four meetings against Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, they only managed to win once, in the group stage of the World Tour Finals; the rest were losses in the finals of the Thailand Open, as well in the semi-finals of the World Championships, French Open and World Tour Finals. The head-to-head record between the pairs stood at 2–8. Meanwhile, with Endo, their best result were finalists in the World Tour Finals, where the duo failed for the sixth time to beat the Indonesian veteran pair Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in their seven meetings.

2020: First All England title In 2020, Watanabe participated in the Badminton Asia Team Championships, where the Japanese men's team finished in the semi-finals. Watanabe then made history for Japan badminton, as he and his partner Endo, becoming the first Japanese men's doubles champions at the All England Open, after beating Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the final. It was their sixth straight win over Gideon and Sukamuljo. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous tournaments on the 2020 BWF World Tour were either cancelled or rescheduled for later in the year. He competed in the national events in December, and managed to claim his fourth mixed doubles consecutive title at the Japanese National Championships with Higashino, and third title in the men's doubles with Endo.

2021: Two All England titles, Olympic bronze, and World Championships silver In March, Watanabe won both the men's and mixed doubles disciplines in the All England Open with Hiroyuki Endo and Arisa Higashino. He was the first player in over 19 years to accomplish such a feat. In July, he competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the men's doubles partnering Endo, and in the mixed doubles with Higashino. Watanabe and Endo's pace was stopped in the quarter-finals to eventual gold medalists Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin, while in the mixed doubles, Watanabe and Higashino clinched a bronze medal after winning the bronze medal game against Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet in straight games. Since Endo decided to retire from international tournaments after the Tokyo Olympics, Watanabe has focused on competing in mixed doubles. After the Olympics, Watanabe and Higashino reached five finals, winning the Denmark and French Opens, and became a finalist in the Indonesia Open, World Tour Finals, and also at the World Championships.

2022–2023: World #1, fifth All England title, and first Japanese mixed doubles to win the Japan Open In 2022, Watanebe only won a title, where he and his partner, Higashino, successfully to defend the All England Open in March. Furthermore, he and his partner won the silver medal in the World Championships defeating by Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in the finals, and a bronze medal in the Asian Championships defeating by Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping in the semi-finals. Another results that they achieved in 2022 were the finalists in the Indonesia and Japan Opens. Watanabe and Higashino then reached their career high as world number 1 in the BWF mixed doubles ranking on 8 November 2022.

Watanabe started the 2023 season by competing in the Malaysia Open, where he and his partner, Higashino, finished as the finalists. In the following week, they emerged as a champion in the India Open, after their opponent Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping withdrawn from the final match. In March, they unable to defend their All England Open title, since Watanabe struggling with injury in the second round against Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun. Watanabe helps the national team advanced to the knocked out stage in the Sudirman Cup, where the team finished in the semi-finals. In June, Watanabe and Higashino reached the finals in the Singapore and Indonesia Opens. In the next tournaments, they stopped in the quarter-finals of the Canada Open to Taiwanese pairing Lee Jhe-huei and Hsu Ya-ching, and then in the semi-finals of the Korea Open to Chinese rising star Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin. The duo then won the Japan Open, becoming the first ever Japanaese pairing to claimed the Japan Open title since it was first contested in 1982. They clinched the bronze medal in the World Championships defeating by Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung in the semi-finals. He competed in the 2022 Asian Games, won a silver in the mixed doubles and a bronze in the men's team event. In the rest of the season, Watanabe and Higashino finished as the semi-finalists in the French Open, Japan Masters, as well in the year-end finals tournament the World Tour Finals.

2024 Watanabe and Higashino opened the 2024 season as a champion in the Malaysia Open. Another result that the duo achieved in the first half of the season were finalists in the All England Open, quarter-finalists in the India Open, French Open, and at the Asian Championships. In two tournaments before the Paris Olympics, they suffered early rounds defeat in the Singapore and Indonesia Opens. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Watanabe and Higashino successfully defended their bronze medal by defeating South Korea's Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung, becoming the first Japanese pair to win consecutive Olympic medals in the discipline. He then made a new partnership with Maya Taguchi, and made a debut in the Denmark Open, where they lost in the first round. They suffered a series of defeats in the early rounds in the first round of the Japan Masters and in the second round of the China Masters.

2025 Watanabe and Taguchi continued their partnership in this year which they suffered second round losses in both India Open and Indonesia Masters. This pair got better in their next two tournament when they manage to score two finals and win one in Sri Lanka International. Two months later in Hong Kong Open, Watanabe improved his game and grabbed the semifinals spot alongside a veteran shuttler, Misaki Matsutomo where they lost to eventual champion, Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. In October, Watanabe paired again with Taguchi and finally won their first world tour together, Malaysia Super 100.

2026 Watanabe and Taguchi began the year with a first-round loss at the India Open and a second-round defeat at the Indonesia Masters. In March, the pair won the Singapore International, defeating Hong Kong's Chan Yin Chak and Ng Tsz Yau in the final. At the Asian Championships in Ningbo, China, Watanabe and Taguchi won the bronze medal after reaching the semifinals, where they were defeated by eventual champions Kim Jae-hyeon and Jang Ha-jeong. Following his return to competition in July, Watanabe and Taguchi went on to win back-to-back Super 300 titles. At the Taipei Open, they defeated home pair Yang Po-hsuan and Hu Ling-fang in the final.

Media and public appearances In 2022, Watanabe and his mixed doubles partner Arisa Higashino made cameo appearances as themselves in the fourth episode of the badminton anime series Love All Play, marking their voice-acting debuts.

On 15 July 2022, Watanabe appeared at the ceremonial first pitch of a Yomiuri Giants baseball game against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp at Tokyo Dome, serving as the catcher for Higashino's pitch.

In October 2024, Watanabe competed on TBS's sports competition programme Ultimate Sports Guys Summit Battle 2024 Autumn, winning the Hard Jumper event after clearing a rotating hurdle 210 consecutive times.

Career milestones Watanabe has achieved several historical firsts in Japanese badminton. Mixed doubles firsts First Japanese mixed doubles pair to attain the World No. 1 ranking (8 November 2022). First Japanese mixed doubles pair to win an Asian Games silver medal (2022). First Japanese mixed doubles winners of the All England Open (2018), Malaysia Open (2024), Taipei Open (2026), and the All England Open (2020).

World Junior Championships Boys' doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result Ref

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, and the BWF Tour Super 100.

Men's doubles Year Tournament Level Partner Opponent Score Result Ref 2018 Malaysia Open Super 750 Hiroyuki Endo Takeshi Kamura Keigo Sonoda 8–21, 10–21 Runner-up 2026 Korea Masters Super 300 Maya Taguchi Kim Jae-hyeon Jang Ha-jeong 21–19, 21–14 Winner 2016 Vietnam International Kenya Mitsuhashi Ong Yew Sin Teo Ee Yi 19–21, 14–21 Runner-up 2025 Sri Lanka International Maya Taguchi Ratchapol Makkasasithorn Nattamon Laisuan 21–15, 21–16 Winner 2026 Singapore International Maya Taguchi Chan Yin Chak Ng Tsz Yau 21–15, 21–13 Winner

Senior level Team events 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Ref Asia Team Championships NH QF NH A NH A NH Asia Mixed Team Championships G NH S NH QF

Boys' doubles Event 2014 2015 Ref Asia Junior Championships B 1R World Junior Championships B Year-end ranking 1,091 973

Men's doubles