Tomoka Miyazaki, a Japanese female badminton player, attracted attention by appearing wearing her country’s traditional costume, kimono, at the 2025 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Gala Awards.
There was analysis that she may have been aiming for the ‘Best Dressed Award’ given at the Gala Awards, but in fact, the award went to another player.
Miyazaki ranked 9th in the women’s singles world rankings and received an invitation to the BWF World Tour Finals to be held in Hangzhou, China starting on the 17th. The World Tour Finals is a ‘Battle of the Kings’ type competition in which the top 8 players or 8 groups from around the world in 5 badminton events participate.
Before the competition, an awards ceremony is held to conclude the year. This time, the BWF Gala Awards were held on the 15th, two days before the World Tour Finals.
In particular, at the BWF Gala Awards, the ‘Best Dresser’ is selected and awarded to one male and one female athlete.
As a result, players participating in the World Tour Finals also pay a lot of attention to their clothing. Ahn Se-young even said, “I want to win the Best Dresser award.”
Miyazaki’s costumes were a hot topic at this gala awards.
Miyazaki, who also showed himself wearing a kimono in his SNS profile picture, received the spotlight by wearing a red kimono at this year’s BWF Gala Awards. This was in contrast to Akane Yamaguchi, a fellow Japanese women’s singles player, wearing plain clothes.
However, the award actually went to Putri Kusuma Wardani (Indonesia). Wardani came out wearing a blue Indonesian-style outfit, but badminton fans are wondering, “Is this enough to be suspicious?”
Miyazaki, who became a hot topic by wearing traditional Japanese clothing, was born in 2006. She won the women’s singles event at the World Junior Championships held in Santander, Spain in 2022.
In the Japanese badminton world, she is considered the next-generation ace next to this year’s World Championship winner Akane Yamaguchi. He also stood out on the senior stage by taking second place at the China Open (Super 1000) last September. She won the women’s singles trophy three times on the Super 300 stage, including reaching the top at the Taiwan Open (Super 300) last May.
In addition, his neat appearance also attracts attention. It is known that Miyazaka already has many fans in Japan, including being called the ‘Badminton Fairy’. He has many fans in Korea too.
Photo = Tomoka Miyazaki SNS / Yonhap News
