Aoi Matsuda

Aoi Matsuda
Personal information
CountryJapan
Born (1996-02-26) 26 February 1996
Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Height1.58 m (5 ft 2 in)
Weight50 kg (110 lb)
Retired15 May 2022
HandednessRight
Women's doubles
Highest ranking44 (WD with Chisato Hoshi 9 November 2021)
Medal record
Women's badminton
Representing  Japan
Asian Junior Championships
2013 Kota Kinabalu Mixed team
BWF profile

Aoi Matsuda (松田 蒼, Matsuda Aoi; born 26 February 1996) is a retired Japanese badminton player who competed primarily in women's doubles. She achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 44 in women's doubles on 9 November 2021. Matsuda won the 2021 Hylo Open, a Super 500 tournament and her first BWF World Tour title, partnering with Chisato Hoshi. Her other titles include the 2019 Polish Open with Hoshi and the 2017 Russian Open with Akane Araki. Matsuda officially retired from professional badminton on 15 May 2022.

Early life and career

Born on 26 February 1996, in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, Aoi Matsuda began playing badminton in her first year of elementary school at the Uryūwari-nishi SSC club. She later moved to Toyama Prefecture to attend Wago Junior High School and graduated from the Toyama University of International Studies High School, a region recognized for its strong badminton programs.[1][2]

Matsuda's junior career included several achievements at international and national levels. In 2013, she earned a bronze medal as part of the Japanese team at the Asian Junior Championships.[3] Partnering with Arisa Higashino, she reached the quarterfinals in girls' doubles at both the Asian Junior Championships and the World Junior Championships.[4][5] Domestically, she was the runner-up in girls' doubles at the 2012 Inter-High School Championships. The following year, she won the girls' doubles title at the All Japan High School Invitational Badminton Championships.[6]

Career

After graduating from high school, Aoi Matsuda joined the Gifu Tricky Panders team. With teammate Akane Araki, she won the BWF Grand Prix title at the 2017 Russian Open and was a finalist at the Bitburger Open the same year.[7][8] On 1 April 2018, she signed a professional contract with Wilson and competed as a player for Amer Sports Japan.[9]

In March 2019, Matsuda joined Nihon Unisys team (later renamed BIPROGY) and started a new partnership with Chisato Hoshi in women's doubles. The pair were members of the Japanese B national team from 2019 until 2022.[10] They won the 2019 Polish Open in March, the same month their partnership was formed.[11] In 2021, Matsuda and Hoshi achieved their first Super 500 title at the Hylo Open, which also marked Matsuda's inaugural BWF World Tour title. They defeated the top-seeded Thai pair, Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai, in the semifinals before winning the final against fellow Japanese players Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi.[12][13] This victory led to their highest career ranking of world No. 44 on 9 November 2021. Domestically, the pair also secured the Japan Ranking Circuit Tournament title in both 2019 and 2021.[6]

Matsuda's final professional appearance was the 2021 BWF World Championships in December, which was also her world championships debut. On 16 May 2022, her retirement was officially announced by her team, BIPROGY, effective 15 May 2022.[14]

Personal life

In October 2022, it was announced that Matsuda had married fellow badminton player Yunosuke Kubota, a former World Junior Champion.[15][16]

Achievements

BWF World Tour (1 title)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[17] 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 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.[18]

Women's doubles

Year Tournament Level Partner Opponent Score Result Ref
2021 Hylo Open Super 500 Chisato Hoshi Rin Iwanaga
Kie Nakanishi 		22–20, 21–18 Winner [13]

BWF Grand Prix (1 title, 1 runner-up)

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017.

Women's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result Ref
2017 Russian Open Akane Araki Yuho Imai
Minami Kawashima 		11–6, 6–11, 11–7, 7–11, 11–5 Winner [7]
2017 Bitburger Open Akane Araki Jongkolphan Kititharakul
Rawinda Prajongjai 		19–21, 6–21 Runner-up [8]
  BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament
  BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (1 title)

Women's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result Ref
2019 Polish Open Chisato Hoshi Alexandra Bøje
Mette Poulsen 		21–18, 15–21, 21–17 Winner [11]
  BWF International Challenge tournament

References

  1. ^ "Aoi Matsuda | Profile". Nippon Badminton Associations (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 26 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  2. ^ "This is Aoi Matsuda!". READYFOR (in Japanese). 9 August 2017. Archived from the original on 26 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  3. ^ Hasegawa, Hiroyuki (14 July 2013). "2013 Asia Youth U19 Team Tournament". Nippon Badminton Association (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 6 August 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  4. ^ Hasegawa, Hiroyuki (14 July 2013). "2013 Asia Youth U19 Individual Tournament". Nippon Badminton Association (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 5 August 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  5. ^ Hasegawa, Hiroyuki (4 November 2013). "2013 World Junior Badminton Championships Individual Competition". Nippon Badminton Association (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 22 June 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Aoi Matsuda | Profile". BIPROGY (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  7. ^ a b Etchells, Daniel (23 July 2017). "Top seed Cheah suffers defeat in final at BWF Russian Grand Prix". Inside the Games. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  8. ^ a b "Thai stars win two titles at Bitburger". Bangkok Post. 7 November 2017. Archived from the original on 24 June 2025. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  9. ^ "Aoi Matsuda signs contract with Wilson". SMASH and NET.TV (in Japanese). 18 May 2018. Archived from the original on 26 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  10. ^ "2019 Japan National Team Players and Coaches". Nippon Badminton Association (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  11. ^ a b "YONEX Polish Open: Narrow defeat in the final". Badminton Germany (in German). 31 March 2019. Archived from the original on 23 June 2025. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  12. ^ Sukumar, Dev (7 November 2021). "Singaporeans On Cusp of Making History". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 25 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  13. ^ a b Tulloch, Ashlee (8 November 2021). "Loh Kean Yew wins biggest career title at Hylo Open 2021 as Lee Zii Jia retires injured". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 31 May 2025. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  14. ^ "Announcement of the retirement of Aoi Matsuda". BIPROGY (in Japanese). 16 May 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  15. ^ Kuboya, Yunosuke [@bobotsu0818]; (1 October 2022). "Marriage announcement" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 26 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025 – via Instagram.
  16. ^ Matsuda, Aoi [@aoi___26__02] (1 October 2022). "Marriage announcement" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 26 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025 – via Twitter.
  17. ^ Alleyne, Gayle (19 March 2017). "BWF Launches New Events Structure". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  18. ^ Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.