Nozomi Okuhara

Nozomi Okuhara, born on 13 March 1995, is a Japanese badminton player and a former world number one in women's singles, well known for her speed, agility and endurance. She started playing badminton in 2002 and joined the Japanese national team in 2010, making her international debut at the 2010 Osaka International Challenge. In 2011 she became the youngest women's singles champion ever at the Japanese National Championships, and she won the gold medal at the World Junior Championships in 2012. A knee injury in 2013 kept her out of the international circuit for nearly a year. She won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and the gold medal at the 2017 World Championships.