Akane Yamaguchi Clinches Year-End Championship Perfectly Closes Season, Summarizes Season Performance with Fulfillen

Jayce September 6, 2024 2 0

According to Japanese media reports, Japanese star Akane Yamaguchi, who won the BWF World Tour Finals women’s singles championship last week, returned to Japan on the 12th and was interviewed at Narita Airport. Yamaguchi summarized her 2022 season with the word “fulfilled.”

Ranked number one in the world, Yamaguchi defeated Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Tai Tzu-ying in the women’s singles final of the year-end finals on the 11th. It has been five years since she won the championship at the predecessor of the year-end finals, the Super Series Finals women’s singles championship in 2017. Yamaguchi said, “Ending in a way that I can accept is really great.”

On December 12th, the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Association announced in Kiyomizu-dera, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, that the character (war) was selected as the “Chinese character of the year” reflecting the social sentiment of 2022. When asked which Chinese character she would use to summarize her performance this year, Yamaguchi chose the character (fulfilled): “Overall, this year has been fulfilling, winning the World Championships in Japan and playing a fulfilling role.”

In August this year, at the BWF World Championships held at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Yamaguchi won consecutive women’s singles titles for the first time and maintained consistent results throughout the year. Next, Yamaguchi plans to participate in the All Japan Championships scheduled for the 24th of this month.

Next May, the qualifying rounds for the 2024 Paris Olympics will begin, and Yamaguchi said, “As for whether my goal is to participate in the Paris Olympics, I haven’t decided yet. I don’t want to think too deeply about it. I just want to enjoy playing one game at a time.”