Noriko Nakayama (née Takagi; born 1943) is a Japanese former

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

player, the first true international badminton star from that nation, who won numerous Japanese national and major international titles from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. Nakayama claimed seven of these at the Danish Open, two in singles and five in women's doubles. She was the champion at World Invitational Championships held in Glasgow, in 1969 in Women's doubles category with

Hiroe Amano Hiroe Amano is a former badminton player of Japan. Hiroe won several international and national titles in the 1960s. She was among the most notable of a cadre of fine players who helped Japan to win the Uber Cup The Uber Cup, sometimes called ...

. At the prestigious All-England Championships she shared the women's doubles title with her compatriot and singles rival

Hiroe Yuki (15 November 1948 – 7 September 2011 in Tokyo) was a Japanese badminton player. She won numerous major international titles from the late 1960s to the late 1970s. Career Yuki was among the most notable of a cadre of fine players who helped ...

in 1971, and won the singles title over Yuki in 1972, having previously lost twice in the finals. She also won the women's singles event at the Olympic Games Demonstration in 1972. In four successive

Uber Cup The Uber Cup, sometimes called the World Women's Team Championships, is a major international badminton competition contested by women's national badminton teams. First held in 1956–1957 and contested at three year intervals, it has been contes ...

(women's international team) competitions, between 1965 and 1975 she was unbeaten in singles, thus leading the way to three world team titles for

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

.Pat Davis. ''The Guinness Book of Badminton'' (Guinness Superlatives Limited, Enfield, Middlesex, England, 1983). 133, 134, 135. and Herbert Scheele, Ed. ''The International Badminton Federation Handbook for 1967'' (Canterbury, Kent, England, 1967). 105-107. With the birth of her eldest daughter, she hung her racket in 1975. As of 2017, she is still actively associated with the sport, coaching at the local level.

Achievements

Olympic Games (demonstration)

Asian Games

International tournaments

References

1943 births Living people Japanese female badminton players Asian Games medalists in badminton Badminton players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 1966 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Asian Games bronze medalists for Japan Medalists at the 1966 Asian Games 20th-century Japanese women {{Japan-badminton-bio-stub