Hiroki Nishi

Nishi began playing badminton at the Nagaokakyo City Sports Shonendan junior club. He attended Oharano Junior High School and Kyoto Prefectural Otokuni High School.^[1] He represented Japan at the 2019 World Junior Championships, where the team earned a bronze medal in the mixed team event.^[2]

After graduating in 2021, Nishi enrolled at Ryukoku University, where he studied Sports Science.^[3] During his time at university, he partnered with Akari Sato in mixed doubles. The pair placed third at the All Japan Championships,^[4] which led to their selection for the 2023 Japanese national B team. They were the first student-athletes from the Ryukoku University Badminton Club to be selected for the national team.^[5] In his final year at university, Nishi won the mixed doubles title at the 2024 All Japan Inter-Collegiate Championships with partner Sumire Nakade.^[6]

In 2023, Nishi and Sato won three international titles. They secured their first World Tour title at the Vietnam Open, defeating Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat in the final.^[7] The pair subsequently won the Kaohsiung Masters by defeating the top-seeded Indonesian pair of Dejan Ferdinansyah and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.^[8] They also won the Indonesia International and finished as runners-up at the Indonesia Masters Super 100.^[9][10]

In 2024, Nishi competed in both men's and mixed doubles. He formed a men's doubles partnership with Kakeru Kumagai. The pair finished as runners-up at the Super 100 Odisha Masters and the Kazakhstan International. In mixed doubles, Nishi and Sato won the Saipan International title and advanced to the quarter-finals of the Super 300 Orléans Masters.^[11] The pair achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 30 on 30 July. On the national circuit, they finished as runners-up at the All Japan Championships after an injury to Sato forced them to retire in the final.^[12]

Nishi turned professional on 1 April, joining the BIPROGY team following his graduation from university.^[13] He was part of the Japanese squad that earned a bronze medal at the Asia Mixed Team Championships.^[14] In mixed doubles, he and Sato made their Asian Championships debut, eliminated in the first round after winning their initial round-robin matches.^[15] The pair later secured their first national title at the Japan Ranking Circuit, defeating Olympic medalist Yuta Watanabe and Misaki Matsutomo in the final.^[16] Their partnership concluded on 1 July, following Sato's retirement from professional badminton.^[17]

Focusing on men's doubles with Kumagai, Nishi won his first international title as a pair at the Northern Marianas Open.^[18] On the World Tour, the duo won the Super 100 Kaohsiung Masters and finished as runners-up at the Super 100 Indonesia Masters I.^[19][20] They also reached the semi-finals of the Malaysia Super 100 and the quarter-finals at both the Australian Open and the Japan Masters.^[21][22] These results helped Nishi reach a career-high world ranking of 32 in men's doubles by late November.

Nishi and Kumagai began the season with their Super 1000 debut at the Malaysia Open. The pair advanced to the second round, where they lost to compatriots Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi.^[23] He was part of the Japanese team that won Japan's first men's team title at the Asia Team Championships. In the final against China, Nishi and Kumagai defeated He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu in three games.^[24] In April, Nishi competed in men's doubles at the Asian Championships in Ningbo, China, alongside Kumagai. They defeated Peeratchai Sukphun and Pakkapon Teeraratsakul in the first round before being eliminated in the second round by Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang.^[25] Nishi achieved a career-high world ranking of 24 on 14 April.

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,^[26] 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.^[27]

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Level	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2024	Odisha Masters	Super 100	Kakeru Kumagai	Huang Di Liu Yang	13–21, 21–19, 25–27	Runner-up	[28][29]
2025 (I)	Indonesia Masters	Super 100	Kakeru Kumagai	Jin Yong Na Sung-seung	19–21, 21–13, 13–21	Runner-up	[30][20]
2025	Kaohsiung Masters	Super 100	Kakeru Kumagai	Su Ching-heng Wu Guan-xun	21–18, 21–17	Winner	[19]

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Level	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2023 (I)	Indonesia Masters	Super 100	Akari Sato	Yap Roy King Valeree Siow	21–13, 14–21, 14–21	Runner-up	[31]
2023	Vietnam Open	Super 100	Akari Sato	Ruttanapak Oupthong Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat	15–21, 21–18, 21–14	Winner	[32]
2023	Kaohsiung Masters	Super 100	Akari Sato	Dejan Ferdinansyah Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja	22–20, 12–21, 21–14	Winner	[33][3]

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2024	Kazakhstan International	Kakeru Kumagai	Lucas Corvée Ronan Labar	14–21, 19–21	Runner-up	[34]
2025	Northern Marianas Open	Kakeru Kumagai	Haruki Kawabe Kenta Matsukawa	21–15, 23–25, 21–13	Winner	[18][35]

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2023 (II)	Indonesia International	Akari Sato	Choong Hon Jian Go Pei Kee	22–20, 18–21, 21–14	Winner	[36][37]
2024	Saipan International	Akari Sato	Yuichi Shimogami Sayaka Hobara	21–11, 21–10	Winner	[38][39]

  BWF International Challenge tournament

Key

• Junior level

• Senior level

• Boys' doubles

• Mixed doubles