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Nao Yamakita

is a Japanese badminton player who specializes in women's doubles. She is a member of the Japanese national team and plays for the NTT East team. She was the gold medalist at the 2023 Asian Junior Championships and a bronze medalist at the 2023 World Junior Championships. In 2025, Yamakita won her maiden World Tour title at the 2025 Korea Masters Super 300.

Career

2019–2023: Junior career and first senior title

Yamakita won the U17 mixed doubles title at the 2019 Asian Junior Championships with partner Yudai Okimoto. In 2022, she and Maya Taguchi reached the finals of three European junior tournaments, including the Croatia Valamar and Bulgaria Junior Opens. Partnering with Mei Sudo in 2023, Yamakita won the title before claiming gold at the Asian Junior Championships, where they defeated South Korea's Park Seul and Yeon Seo-yeon in the final. The pair also won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in Spokane. In team events, Yamakita helped Japan secure its first mixed team gold medal in 11 years at the Asian Junior Championships and a bronze at the World Junior Championships. She made her senior international debut in June 2023 at the Guatemala Future Series, winning the women's doubles title with Sudo and finishing as runner-up in mixed doubles with Kenta Matsukawa.

2024–2025: First World Tour title and world top 40

After joining the NTT East badminton team, Yamakita partnered with Naru Shinoya to win the 2024 Malaysia International. In 2025, she began a partnership with Hinata Suzuki. The duo won the Saipan International and finished as runners-up at the Northern Marianas Open. On the World Tour, they reached the final of the Super 100 Kaohsiung Masters. In November 2025, Yamakita won her first World Tour title at the Super 300 Korea Masters, defeating Kim So-yeong and Lee Seo-jin in straight games. Following this victory, she reached a career-high world ranking of 37 in women's doubles.

Achievements

World Junior Championships

Girls' doubles

Asian Junior Championships

Girls' doubles

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 (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.

Women's doubles

BWF International Challenge/Series (3 titles, 2 runners-up)

Women's doubles

Mixed doubles

BWF International Challenge tournament
BWF Future Series tournament

BWF Junior International (2 titles, 3 runners-up)

Girls' doubles

BWF Junior International Grand Prix tournament
BWF Junior International Challenge tournament
BWF Junior International Series tournament

References

External links