Aya Ohori wasn't on the National A team before? How come she participates in so many SS events? I thought in general, National B team members don't participate in the SS events.
She only participated in Hong Kong (Okuhara replacement), Japan (many Japanese participants) and Korea. The only unusual one was Korea, where Japan fielded 6 ladies, including her and Kawakami.
she also played australia ss. japan fielded 6 ws again. she lost to chen yufei in 2nd round 21-19 21-18 [ https://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/...D1C54B-EF2E-4ED7-8E0F-2139EF1FB98E&player=178 ]
Oh god, seems Ohori was able to drag AY down to her considerably lower level. Stream is laggy af, so I only see snippets.
MD Final Result : Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe vs Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi 19-21, 21-19, 21-5 That's the 4th title for Hiroyuki Endo himself
Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota vs Ayaka Takahashi/Misaki Matsutomo : 21-14, 21-18 Fukushima/Hirota have got their first ever title at All Japan Championships
Did Akane get a bigger trophy or does just look bigger next to her? And why is Hirota's bigger than Fukushima's? Questions....
The singles' trophy is higher than the doubles' trophy, you may get overall size comparison here : 2014, 2015, 2016. Each players of pair received different shape of trophy. I don't know why. In 2016 it seems the doubles pairs receive only 1 trophy altogether except the mixed pair. But the previous year (2015) similar with 2017.
Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino vs Yugo Kobayashi/Chiharu Shida : 21-23, 21-11, 21-6 Yuta Watanabe got two titles today. Congratulation to our new mixed double champion Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino!
All Japan Championships Winners: 【MS】 2008-2013 : Kenichi Tago 2014 : Sho Sasaki 2015 : Kento Momota 2016 : Kenta Nishimoto 2017 : Riichi Takeshita 【WS】 2011 : Nozomi Okuhara 2012 : Kaori Imabeppu 2013 : Minatsu Mitani 2014 : Akane Yamaguchi 2015 : Nozomi Okuhara 2016 : Sayaka Sato 2017 : Akane Yamaguchi 【MD】 2009-2011 : Noriyasu Hirata/Hirokatsu Hashimoto 2012-2014 : Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa 2015-2016 : Keigo Sonoda/Takeshi Kamura 2017 : Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe 【WD】 2011-2013 : Ayaka Takahashi/Misaki Matsutomo 2014 : Naoko Fukuman/Kurumi Yonao 2015 : Ayaka Takahashi/Misaki Matsutomo 2016 : Ayaka Takahashi/Misaki Matsutomo 2017 : Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota 【XD】 2011 : Shintaro Ikeda/Reiko Shiota 2012 : Takeshi Kamura/Koharu Yonemoto 2013 : Kenichi Hayakawa/Misaki Matsutomo 2014 : Kenichi Hayakawa/Misaki Matsutomo 2015 : Kenta Kazuno/Ayane Kurihara 2016 : Takeshi Kamura/Koharu Yonemoto 2017 : Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino Source: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/全日本総合バドミントン選手権大会 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_National_Badminton_Championships
Riichi Takeshita's victory is a complete surprise to me. I was thinking, if not Momota who may not be at his best yet probably, then maybe Kenta Nishimoto or Kanta Tsuneyama.
The 71st All Japan Championships Winners 2017 【MS】 Riichi Takeshita 【WS】 Akane Yamaguchi 【MD】 Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe 【WD】 Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota 【XD】 Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino
Have already been daydreaming about this wonder team since mid-year, hope that they win it gloriously. Wonder who the captain will be though, one of TakaMatsu I guess, or maybe Okuhara? hmmm....
By May, Nozomi's world ranking will have dropped. Assuming her rehab and recovery go OK, she is going to be an awesome no.2/no.3 singles player.