Kakeru Kumagai

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.

Early life and career

Junior career

Kakeru Kumagai was born on 5 January, in Ōsaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. He began playing badminton at the Sendai Yamato Junior club and later attended St. Ursula Gakuin Eichi Middle and High School, where he specialized in doubles.

In 2018, Kumagai and his partner, Yoshifumi Fujisawa, won the men's doubles title at the All Japan Junior Championships. The following year, he represented Japan at the World Junior Championships in Kazan, Russia. He was a member of the Japanese team that won a bronze medal in the mixed team event. In the individual event at the same championships, Kumagai competed in mixed doubles with Mizuki Otake, reaching the quarterfinals where they were defeated by the Chinese pair Jiang Zhenbang and Li Yijing in a close three-game match (20–22, 21–18, 21–23).

University career

While attending Nihon University, Kumagai formed a men's doubles partnership with Kota Ogawa. In their final year in 2023, they won the All Japan Student Championships, defeating Hiroki Nishi and Yuto Kida in the final. On the international circuit that same year, Kumagai and Ogawa were the runners-up at the Indonesia Masters (Super 100) in Surabaya.

Career

2023

Kumagai joined the 2023 Japan national badminton team (team B), playing men's doubles with Kota Ogawa and mixed doubles with An Sato. He was coached by Lee Wan Wah, a former Malaysian men's doubles player.

2024

After graduating from Nihon University, Kumagai became a member of the Biprogy badminton team on April 1, 2024. His focus at Biprogy is doubles, where he is coached by former Japanese men's doubles players Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa.

At the Kazakhstan International, Kumagai made his international debut with Biprogy, partnering with Hiroki Nishi in men's doubles. The pair defeated Ondřej Král and Adam Mendrek, the world's 47th-ranked pair, in the semi-finals in two straight games. They finished as runner-up after losing in the final against the world's 42nd-ranked pair from France, Lucas Corvée and Ronan Labar.

In June 2024, Kumagai competed in the 74th All Japan Business Corporation Championships as part of the Biprogy team. During the tournament, Kumagai partnered with Yuta Watanabe in the men’s doubles. In the semi-final, they defeated Kazuki Shibata and Naoki Yamada, representatives of the Japan national team, in two straight games, and in the final, they defeated the 2021 world champions Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi, also in two straight games (21–8, 21–18). The Biprogy team won the tournament, defeating the Tonami Transportation team 3-0, and the Kumagai/Watanabe pair were named Most Valuable Players (MVP).

2025

Kumagai is a member of the 2025 Japan National Team, playing men's doubles with Nishi and coached by Lee Wan Wah and Hiroyuki Endo.

Achievements

BWF World Tour (2 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 runner-up)

''Men's doubles''

: BWF International Challenge tournament

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumagai, Kakeru
2002 births
Living people
Japanese male badminton players
Nihon University alumni
Sportspeople from Miyagi Prefecture