Akane is still a very young and evolving player, give her time. She's not a top tier player yet but I believe she'll get there one day. Of late, it seems more players are getting familiar with her game which hasn't changed much. She's a child prodigy who rises suddenly at the senior level and is now going through a consolidation phase before progressing further. I don't envisage her fading away just yet,not at all; too early to write her off as not champion material, I believe.
If you think back to other 'child prodigy' female singles players in recent years ... you probably think of TTY an IR. So if their record is anything to go by, she has a few years before she actually needs to do anything. That said, I think the Japanese coaching staff will be aiming to see her at the top of her game in Rio, and if she is...
You have LXR's number in the first game, God know what would have happened if you won the first game. Wish you were a few inches taller, you are an excellent player. You have my respect for you performance in SC.
I watched the recent Sudirman Cup final and I think Akane is just too fat. I'm not here to insult her but her extra body weight is a disadvantage. She has great skills and if she can loose some fats, she will be even better.
Some people are born with bigger bodies and even if you try to lose fat it still doesn't change that much when it comes to appearance. In Sweden, there was a professional downhill skier called Anja Parson. She was also what you would call "fat" but in reality there was hardly any on her but just a lot of muscles and her natural body. Still, she won tons of gold on the international circuit. I am not sure about Yamaguchi though and I doubt we'll ever find out, but don't be to hasty in judging peoples' stature. It might be the same as it was with Anja Parson. On a personal note, I've got huge calves, but they were there from the beginning, even before I started to play badminton.
agree with body type. it is somewhat genetic. i am born as an ectomorph and I can go and do all the workout, like for weeks I went and did 80+ pushup everyday, grew some chest muscles, and then i stopped for a couple of months they go away. and then there are people who sits in front of the TV eating chips and pizza everyday and they have bigger muscles than me. back to Yamaguchi, if you look at the slow replays and photos, you should notice that she actually have a lot of muscles. which explains why she moves around so fast despite being shorter than most of her opponents.
I've got experience of Japanese badminton and the practice sessions in their clubs are very rigorous. To be able to produce a player like Yamaguchi at the age of 16 must mean that she's also been training a lot and then some. In my opinion, I don't think that Yamaguchi is even close to "fat".
It's her body type and probably won't change. When I first saw her, I thought she would be pushed around a lot on the court because of her body size. As I watch her more, I see she can often hold her own on the court despite looking like she doesn't belong on the court. I think many would be surprised by her play. She doesn't have the "look" of a badminton player, especially a singles player but she can whip a lot of people's rear and quickly gain the respect, I'm sure of that. I don't know how far she'll go but she impresses me and I enjoy watching her competitions.
Congratz Yamaguchi on officially breaking into the top 10. I predicted this about 18 months ago, and was ridiculed by many. Go Yamaguchi!
she voluntarily withdraw from the WC because she wanted to take the opportunity to participate in her last Inter High School competition.
Never wrong mate hehe. To be fair, I've never been wrong about predictions on LCW winning World Champs or Olympics. And seriously, he won't win World Champs 2015 either. Never been wrong after all hehe. As for Yamaguchi, really strange decision not to play in this year's World Champs. She would have had a small chance to win it!
never strange at all because she won the Inter High School Champion for three consecutive years. She's the first in history to achieve this. I think she loves her school activity very much. She will be graduating next Spring, this is the last year she can represent her school as a student in her student life. World Championship is held every year except OG year. But, this Inter High School Competition will be her last school competition. Therefore, I would say she really appreciates her school life. The latest news today says she has the intention to join Saishunkan, the company/club where Miyuki Maeda, Reika Kakiiwa, Yuki Fukushima, Naoko Fukuman, Kurumi Yonao belong to. I hope she will not turn into a doubles player like what Misaki Matsutomo, Naoko Fukuman did!!