Akane Yamaguchi will become the first Japanese badminton player to top the world singles rankings on Thursday, when the new rankings will be released.
According to a source Tuesday, the 20-year-old Yamaguchi, who reached the quarterfinals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, will move up one place to No. 1 in the new women's rankings. She followed her first badminton Superseries Finals victory last year with strong performances in March.
Last month, Yamaguchi won the German Open and was runner-up in the prestigious All England Open. She joins Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo as the only other Japanese to be ranked first in the world.
Takahashi and Matsutomo topped the women's doubles rankings in October 2014 before going on to win the Rio Olympics gold medal.
