Kakeru Kumagai

Junior career Kumagai began playing badminton at the Sendai Yamato Junior club before attending Saint Ursula Gakuin Eichi Junior and Senior High School. In 2018, he partnered with Yoshifumi Fujisawa to win the boys' doubles title at the All Japan Junior Championships. The following year, Kumagai represented Japan at the 2019 World Junior Championships, winning a bronze medal in the mixed team event. University career Kumagai studied sport science at Nihon University. Partnering with Kota Ogawa, he won the men's doubles title at the 2023 All Japan Student Championships (Inter-Collegiate). Consequently selected for the Japanese national B team, the pair made their World Tour debut at the 2023 Indonesia Masters I Super 100, finishing as runners-up. == Career ==

2024 After graduating from university in April, Kumagai joined the BIPROGY badminton team. He formed a men's doubles partnership with Hiroki Nishi, training under former national players Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa. In their debut season, the pair finished as runners-up at the Super 100 Odisha Masters and the Kazakhstan International. 2025 Kumagai and Nishi claimed their first international title as a pair at the Northern Marianas Open in August, defeating compatriots Haruki Kawabe and Kenta Matsukawa in the final. Following these results, they reached a career-high world ranking of No. 32 in November. 2026 Kumagai and Nishi opened the season by making their Super 1000 debut at the Malaysia Open. The pair advanced to the second round, where they were defeated by their compatriots Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi. Kumagai achieved a career-high world ranking of 24 on 14 April. == Achievements ==

BWF World Tour (1 title, 3 runners-up) The BWF World Tour, which was introduced on 19 March 2017 and was held in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). 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. ''Men's doubles'' BWF International Challenge/Series (1 title, 1 runner-up) ''Men's doubles'' : BWF International Challenge tournament == Performance timeline ==

National team • Junior level • Senior level Individual competitions Junior level • ''Boys' doubles'' • Mixed doubles Senior level Men's doubles == Record against selected opponents ==

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 10 April 2026. Hiroki Nishi == References ==