Yonex
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| Yonex Co., Ltd. | |
 |
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1946 |
| Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan |
| Key people | Minoru Yoneyama, founder |
| Industry | Sporting goods |
| Products | Racquets, shuttlecocks, clubs, snowboards, shoes, apparel, accessories |
| Employees | 1,200 approx. |
| Website | www.yonex.com |
Yonex Co., Ltd. (ヨネックス株式会社 Yonekkusu Kabushiki-gaisha?) (TYO: 7906 ) is a Japanese manufacturer of sporting equipment for badminton, golf and tennis, producing racquets, clubs, shoes, shuttlecocks, and other equipment for those sports.
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[edit] History
The company was founded in 1946 by Minoru Yoneyama as a producer of wooden floats for fishing nets. The company was later forced out of this market because of the invention of plastic floats. This led to a commitment by Yoneyama to never again be left behind by technological advancements. In 1957, Yoneyama began to make badminton racquets for other brands. By 1961, the first Yoneyama branded racquet was introduced, and within another two years an export company was created for the worldwide distribution. After the company began to make aluminum badminton racquets in 1969, they found that the same technology could be applied to the tennis racquet which they introduced in 1971. The company began to experiment with graphite shafts for both types of racquets and found that these would also be useful for golf clubs. Finding a growing market, the Yonex Corporation (a wholly owned subsidiary) was established in Torrance, California in July, 1983. In 1992 Yonex introduced the widebody racquet the "Isometric 500", a racquet that was much less "tear drop" shaped than previous racquets. The more "square" head of the racquet gave it a much larger striking surface. It led other manufacturers to follow suit in "square-head" or isometric designs. The parent company was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1994.
[edit] Yonex today
Yonex has managed to become the dominant corporate player in badminton. Yonex sponsors the All England Open Badminton Championships and is a partner of the International Badminton Federation which organizes the World Championships. Upwards of 80% of competitive players use their racquets, as it is the preferred choice amongst professionals. However, Yonex is not insignificant in either the tennis or golf worlds and is a major sponsor of professional athletes in all three sports.
[edit] Yonex badminton racquets
[edit] Carbonex Series
- Carbonex-30 Muscle
- Carbonex-25
- Carbonex-23
- Carbonex-22
- Carbonex-21 Special
- Carbonex-21
- Carbonex-20 Muscle
- Carbonex-20 Long
- Carbonex-20 Tour
- Carbonex-20
- Carbonex-20 Titanium Power
- Carbonex-20 Special
- Carbonex-20 Tour Special
- Carbonex-20 Power
- Carbonex-18
- Carbonex-16
- Carbonex-15
- Carbonex-15 Titanium Power
- Carbonex-15 Long
- Carbonex-14
- Carbonex-13
- Carbonex-10 Muscle
- Carbonex-10
- Carbonex-10 Tour
- Carbonex-9 Tour
- Carbonex-9
- Carbonex-8DX
- Carbonex-8
- Carbonex-7 Long
- Carbonex-7
- Carbonex-4
- Carbonex-3
- Carbonex-1
- Carbonex-8000 Light
- Carbonex-8200
- Carbonex-8200 Light
- Carbonex-8300
- Carbonex-8400 Light
- Carbonex-8600 Light
[edit] Armortec Series
- Armortec 150
- Armortec 250
- Armortec 300
- Armortec 500
- Armortec 700
- Armortec 800 Defensive
- Armortec 800 Offensive
- Armortec Limited Edition
- Armortec 900 Technique
- Armortec 900 Power
[edit] Isometric Series
- Isometric Titanium Swing Power SS/SR/SA/SX
- Isometric Swing Power 900 SS/SR/SA/SX
- Isometric 800 Tour
- Isometric 665 Light
- Isometric 600 Power
- isometric 300
- isometric 250
- isometric 150
- Isometric 60 Light
- Isometric 75 VF
- Isometric 85 VF
- Isometric 90 VF Slim
- Isometric 95 VF
- Isometric 75 MF Light
- Isometric 65 LT
- Isometric 30 DF
- Isometric 30 VF
- Isometric 25 DF
- Isometric 23 VF
- Isometric 20 VF
- Isometric 20 JR
[edit] Muscle Power Series
- Muscle Power 21
- Muscle Power 22
- Muscle Power 23
- Muscle Power 24
- Muscle Power 25
- Muscle Power 27
- Muscle Power 28
- Muscle Power 29
- Muscle Power 30/33
- Muscle Power 44
- Muscle Power 45
- Muscle Power 55
- Muscle Power 60/66
- Muscle Power 70/77
- Muscle Power 80/88
- Muscle Power 90/99
- Muscle Power 100
(the raquets with exact 10 digits ie MP 60 are Japan model excluding MP 100)
[edit] NanoSpeed Series
- NanoSpeed 5000
- NanoSpeed 6000
- NanoSpeed 7000
- NanoSpeed 7700
- NanoSpeed 8000
- NanoSpeed 9000 Type S - "Stiff"
- NanoSpeed 9000 Type X - "eXtra Stiff"
[edit] Titanium Series
- Titanium-1
- Titanium-2
- Titanium-3
- Titanium-3 Light
- Titanium-5 Light
- Titanium-6
- Titanium-7
- Titanium-7 Light
- Titanium-8
- Titanium-10
- Titanium-10 Long
[edit] Basic Series
- B-760DF+
- B-560DF
- B-460
(The Product series had ended)
[edit] Sponsorship
[edit] Athletes sponsored by Yonex
- Mario Ancic (tennis)
- Howard Bach (badminton)
- Lin Dan (badminton)
- Elena Dementieva (tennis)
- Jens Eriksen (badminton)
- Peter Gade (badminton)
- Martin Lundgaard Hansen (badminton)
- Daniela Hantuchová (tennis)
- Roslin Hashim (badminton)
- Taufik Hidayat (badminton)
- Martina Hingis (tennis)
- Lleyton Hewitt (tennis)
- Zhang Jiewen (badminton)
- Joachim Johansson (tennis)
- Gao Ling (badminton)
- Magdalena Maleeva (tennis)
- Camilla Martin (badminton)
- Colin Montgomerie (golf)
- David Nalbandian (tennis)
- Zhang Ning (badminton)
- Marcelo Ríos (tennis)
- Lee Dong-soo (badminton)
- Paradorn Srichaphan (tennis)
- Monica Seles (tennis)
- Huang Sui (badminton)
- Nicole Vaidišová (tennis)
- Yang Wei (badminton)
- Maria Kirilenko (tennis)
Note: Above list represents some past and present sponsorees.
[edit] Tournaments sponsored by Yonex
- All England Open Badminton Championships (badminton) since 1984
- Official Badminton Equipment Supplier of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics (badminton)
- Official Badminton Equipment Supplier of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics (badminton)
- Official Badminton Equipment Supplier of the 2000 Sydney Olympics (badminton)
- Official Badminton Equipment Supplier of the 2004 Athens Olympics (badminton)
- Thomas Cup (badminton)
- Uber Cup (badminton)
- German Open (badminton)
