is a Japanese badminton player affiliated with NTT East. Born in Aomori, he started playing badminton at the age of 5 with the influence of his father. He won the silver medal at the 2023 and 2026 BWF World Championships.

In his junior career, Naraoka has won a silver at the World Junior Championships in 2018, where he previously claimed a bronze in 2017. He represented his country competed at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, won the bronze medals in the boys' singles and mixed team event.

He competed for Japan at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the men's singles event.

Awards and nominations +AwardYearCategoryResultBWF Awards2022Eddy Choong Most Promising Player of the Year

Achievements

World Championships Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result Ref 2023 Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21–19, 18–21, 7–21 Silver 2026 Indira Gandhi Arena, New Delhi, India Alex Lanier 11–21, 11–21 Silver

Asian Games Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result Ref 2022 Binjiang Gymnasium, Hangzhou, China Shi Yuqi 5–21, 15–21 Bronze

Asian Championships Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result Ref 2024 Ningbo Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium, Ningbo, China Li Shifeng 21–14, 15–21, 12–21 Bronze

Youth Olympic Games Boys' singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result Ref 2018 Tecnópolis, Buenos Aires, Argentina Arnaud Merklé 21–17, 24–26, 22–20 Bronze

World Junior Championships Boys' singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result Ref 2017 Among Rogo Sports Hall, Yogyakarta, Indonesia Leong Jun Hao 14–21, 20–22 Bronze 2018 Markham Pan Am Centre, Markham, Canada Kunlavut Vitidsarn 9–21, 11–21 Silver

BWF World Tour (3 titles, 6 runners-up) The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, 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.

Men's singles Year Tournament Level Opponent Score Result Ref 2022 Korea Masters Super 300 Jeon Hyeok-jin 17–21, 16–21 Runner-up 2022 Singapore Open Super 500 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21–23, 17–21 Runner-up 2022 Taipei Open Super 300 Chou Tien-chen 21–14, 10–21, 6–21 Runner-up 2022 Vietnam Open Super 100 Sun Feixiang 10–21, 21–14, 21–17 Winner 2023 Malaysia Open Super 1000 Viktor Axelsen 6–21, 15–21 Runner-up 2023 China Masters Super 750 Kenta Nishimoto 21–13, 21–13 Winner 2024 Australian Open Super 500 Lee Zii Jia 19–21, 21–11, 18–21 Runner-up 2024 China Open Super 1000 Weng Hongyang 17–21, 12–21 Runner-up 2025 Japan Masters Super 500 Kenta Nishimoto 21–11, 10–21, 21–15 Winner

BWF International Challenge/Series (5 titles, 2 runners-up) Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2018 Osaka International Yu Igarashi 21–14, 11–21, 12–21 Runner-up 2018 Yonex / K&D Graphics International Koki Watanabe 14–21, 21–14, 15–21 Runner-up 2019 Lao International Minoru Koga 22–20, 22–20 Winner 2019 Jamaica International Kevin Cordón 21–17, 21–8 Winner 2019 Mongolia International Kunlavut Vitidsarn 9–21, 21–17, 23–21 Winner 2019 Dubai International Yusuke Onodera 21–14, 21–17 Winner 2019 Yonex / K&D Graphics International Jason Ho-Shue 21–13, 21–14 Winner BWF International Challenge tournament BWF International Series tournament

BWF Junior International (1 runner-up) Boys' singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result Ref 2015 Australian Junior International Kenya Mitsuhashi 20–22, 21–14, 16–21 Runner-up BWF Junior Future Series tournament

Record against selected opponents Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 6 October 2026.

Player Matches Win Lost Victor Lai 1 0 1 –1 Shi Yuqi 16 5 11 –6 Zhao Junpeng 1 1 0 +1 Chou Tien-chen 9 3 6 –3 Anders Antonsen 10 5 5 0 Viktor Axelsen 7 1 6 –5 Alex Lanier 2 1 1 0 Christo Popov 8 3 5 –2 Kevin Cordón 1 1 0 +1 Srikanth Kidambi 4 4 0 +4

Player Matches Win Lost Prannoy H. S. 7 6 1 +5 Lakshya Sen 9 6 3 +3 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 4 1 3 –2 Sony Dwi Kuncoro 1 1 0 +1 Lee Zii Jia 6 3 3 0 Liew Daren 1 1 0 +1 Loh Kean Yew 8 0 8 –8 Kunlavut Vitidsarn 14 5 9 –4 Kantaphon Wangcharoen 3 3 0 +3

References

External links

Kodai Naraoka at Badminton Association of Japan