Ayato Endo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Endo at the 2023 Kaohsiung Masters | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 19 June 2000 Tokyo, Japan |
| Height | 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in) |
| Sport | |
| Country | Japan |
| Sport | Badminton |
| Handedness | Right |
| Men's doubles | |
| Career record | 47 wins, 29 losses (61.84%) |
| Highest ranking | 25 (with Yuta Takei, 16 May 2023) |
| BWF profile | |
Ayato Endo (遠藤 彩斗, Endō Ayato; born 19 June 2000) is a Japanese badminton player who specializes in men's doubles.[1][2] He is a member of the NTT East badminton team and has a long-standing partnership with Yuta Takei. With Takei, Endo won his first BWF World Tour title at the 2022 Canada Open. In 2022 while still a university student, the pair also secured three titles on the BWF International Challenge/Series circuit. Endo and Takei achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 25 on 16 May 2023.
Junior career
Ayato Endo began playing badminton in the second grade of elementary school, joining a local junior team in Tokyo. He attended Saitama Sakae Junior and Senior High School, having begun his partnership with Yuta Takei in the fourth grade of elementary school.[3] During their junior career, Endo and Takei won the national title at the Junior High School Badminton Tournament. In 2018, they were the runners-up in doubles at both the National High School Championships (Inter-High) and the National High School Selection tournament.[2]
University career
Endo attended Meiji University, where he studied in the School of Political Science and Economics and continued his partnership with Takei.[3] While representing the university, he won the men's doubles title at the All Japan Inter-Collegiate Championships in both 2021 and 2022.[2] He was also a member of the Meiji University men's team that captured its first-ever team title at the 2021 championships.[4] At the 2021 All Japan Championships, he and Takei earned a third-place finish in men's doubles.[5]
In 2022, while still a university student, Endo was selected for the Japanese B national team and began competing more widely on the international circuit.[5] Representing Japan at the Asia Team Championships, the then-world No. 857 pair defeated the world No. 7 and Olympic bronze medalists Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.[6] That year, Endo and Takei secured four international titles: their first BWF World Tour title at the Super 100 Canada Open, and three BWF International Challenge/Series tournaments at the Santo Domingo Open, Mongolia International, and Irish Open.[7][8][9][10] They were also runners-up at the Norwegian International.[11]
Professional career
Endo joined the NTT East badminton team on 1 April 2023, after graduating from university.[12] In their first year as professionals, Endo and Takei competed regularly on the World Tour, participating in top-tier events including three Super 1000 tournaments: the Indonesia Open, China Open, and Japan Open. That year, they also made their Asian Championships debut, reaching the second round.
