Akira Koga

Koga began playing badminton during elementary school in his hometown of Fukuoka, influenced by his parents; his father coached a junior team, and his mother had played at the university level. He later attended Saitama Sakae Junior and Senior High Schools.^[2] During his junior career, he won several national titles, including the doubles title at the 2008 All Japan Junior High School Championships and the 2010 JOC Junior Olympic Cup. In 2011, he won the singles title at the National High School Championships (Inter-High), defeating Kento Momota in the final.^[3][4]

In 2012, he contributed to Japan's first mixed team title at the Asian Junior Championships and a silver medal at the World Junior Championships. In the World Junior team final against China, he and partner Akane Yamaguchi lost the decisive mixed doubles match 22–24 in the third game to Zheng Siwei and Chen Qingchen.^[5]

From 2012 to 2016, Koga studied at the Faculty of Sport Sciences at Waseda University, where he formed a men's doubles partnership with fellow student Taichi Saito. The pair won the All Japan Inter-Collegiate Championships three times (2012, 2013, and 2015).^[2][4][3] During his second year, Koga sustained a stress fracture that required surgery, hindering his performance for the remainder of the 2013 season.^[4] In his final year, he served as team captain and received the Athletics Honorary Award and the Azusa Ono Memorial Award.^[4][6][7]

After graduating in 2016, Koga joined the NTT East badminton team and began his senior career, maintaining his partnership with Taichi Saito. The pair won consecutive national titles at the Japan Ranking Circuit in 2017 and 2018 and secured their first international title at the 2018 South Australia International.^[8] On the BWF World Tour, they finished as runners-up at four tournaments: the Orléans Masters, the Akita Masters, and the Indonesia Masters in 2019, and the Syed Modi International in 2023.^{[9][10][11][12]} They also reached the semifinals of the 2021 Indonesia Open Super 1000 and the 2023 Canada Open Super 500. Representing Japan in team events, Koga won a silver medal at the 2021 Sudirman Cup. He has also won bronze medals at the Thomas Cup and the Asian Games.

Following Saito's retirement, Koga transferred to the JTEKT Stingers in 2025. He formed a new men's doubles pairing with Naoya Kawashima, with whom he won the Saipan International and finished as runner-up at the Northern Marianas International.^[13][14] In the same year, Koga began competing in mixed doubles with Yuho Imai, securing his first World Tour title at the Super 100 Kaohsiung Masters.^[15] The pair also won the Mexican International and the Northern Marianas Open, and were runners-up at the Northern Marianas International.^{[16][17][18][14]}

In late 2025, Koga competed with temporary partners in mixed doubles, reaching quarter-finals at the Korea Masters with Hina Osawa and the semi-finals of the Japan Masters with Misaki Matsutomo.^[19][20]

Koga formed a new mixed doubles partnership with Natsu Saito.^[21] The pair made their international debut at the season-opening 2026 Malaysia Open, where they advanced to the second round.^[22] They subsequently advanced to the semifinals of the Thailand Masters.^[23]

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,^[24] 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.^[25]

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Level	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2019	Orléans Masters	Super 100	Taichi Saito	Lee Yang Wang Chi-lin	21–16, 20–22, 15–21	Runner-up	[9]
2019	Akita Masters	Super 100	Taichi Saito	Ou Xuanyi Zhang Nan	14–21, 19–21	Runner-up	[10]
2019	Indonesia Masters	Super 100	Taichi Saito	Ou Xuanyi Zhang Nan	21–11, 10–21, 20–22	Runner-up	[11]
2023	Syed Modi International	Super 300	Taichi Saito	Choong Hon Jian Muhammad Haikal	21–18, 18–21, 16–21	Runner-up	[12]

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Level	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2025	Kaohsiung Masters	Super 100	Yuho Imai	Wu Hsuan-yi Yang Chu-yun	16–21, 21–13, 21–15	Winner	[15]

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2018	South Australia International	Taichi Saito	Danny Bawa Chrisnanta Terry Hee	21–11, 19–21, 21–16	Winner	[8]
2025	Northern Marianas International	Naoya Kawashima	Kim Jae-hyeon Lee Sang-won	16–21, 15–21	Runner-up	[14]
2025	Saipan International	Naoya Kawashima	Haruki Kawabe Kenta Matsukawa	15–13, 15–12	Winner	[13][26]

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2025	Mexican International	Yuho Imai	Davi Silva Sânia Lima	15–8, 9–15, 15–9	Winner	[16]
2025	Northern Marianas International	Yuho Imai	Kim Jae-hyeon Kim Min-ji	13–21, 21–16, 18–21	Runner-up	[14]
2025	Northern Marianas Open	Yuho Imai	Haruki Kawabe Kokona Ishikawa	21–19, 21–13	Winner	[17][18]

  BWF International Challenge tournament

  BWF International Series tournament