| Kakeru Kumagai 熊谷 翔 | |
| Country: | Japan |
| Birth Date: | 2002 1, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Ōsaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan |
| Height: | 1.72 m |
| Weight: | 68 kg |
| Handedness: | Left |
| Coach: | Kenichi Hayakawa (BIPROGY) Hiroyuki Endo (BIPROGY) Lee Wan Wah (NBA, 2023) |
| Event: | Men's & mixed doubles |
| Career Record: | MD, 21 wins, 14 losses XD, 11 wins, 11 losses |
| Highest Ranking: | 76 (MD with Kota Ogawa, 28 November 2023) 107 (XD with An Sato, 31 October 2023) |
| Current Ranking: | 177 (MD with Hiroki Nishi, 13 August 2024) |
| Bwf Id: | 255C8634-DAFC-43EE-BD2D-3E7CCF588223 |
is a Japanese badminton player from Miyagi Prefecture. He graduated from Nihon University then continued his career as a professional badminton player by joining the BIPROGY badminton team.[1]
Kumagai was selected as a representative of the 2023 Japan national badminton team (team B) in the men's doubles sector with Kota Ogawa and the mixed doubles with An Sato.[2] While on the national team, He was coached by former Malaysian men's doubles player Lee Wan Wah (bronze medalist at the 2001 and 2007 World Championships).
He graduated from Nihon University and officially joined the BIPROGY badminton team on April 1 2024.[3] At BIPROGY, Kumagai plays in the doubles sector coached by former Japanese men's doubles players Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa.
He started his first international tournament after officially joining BIPROGY at Kazakhstan International in the men's doubles sector partnering Hiroki Nishi. His debut together with Hiroki Nishi managed to beat the world number 47 pair Ondřej Král / Adam Mendrek in the semifinals in two straight games. However, they lost in the final to the world number 42 pair from France Lucas Corvée / Ronan Labar and finished as runner-up.
In June 2024, Kumagai took part in the team tournament of the 74th All Japan Business Corporation Championships as a member of the BIPROGY men's team. In the semifinal against NTT East, Kumagai played as the second men's doubles partner with one of the world's top players Yuta Watanabe. The Kumagai / Watanabe pair defeated Japan national team men's doubles representatives Kazuki Shibata / Naoki Yamada in two straight games. In the final round, the Kumagai / Watanabe pair also defeated the 2021 world champion men's doubles and Olympic Paris representatives Takuro Hoki / Yugo Kobayashi in two straight games (21–8, 21–18). The BRIPOGY men's team managed to win the tournament, beating the TONAMI Transportation team 3–0 in the final.[4] The pair Kakeru Kumagai / Yuta Watanabe were awarded the Most Valuable Players (MVP).
The BWF World Tour, which was introduced on 19 March 2017 and was held in 2018,[5] 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.[6]
Men's doubles
Men's doubles
BWF International Challenge tournament
BWF International Series tournament
BWF Future Series tournament