2 years is a long time from now. it's plenty of time for young players like yutarisa to improve a lot, especially given their natural talents. i don't consider any other japan xd as potential contenders right now.
Kobayashi/Matsutomo & Hoki/Hirota seems to be splitted and Misaki Matsutomo will play with Yuki Kaneko while Takuro Hoki will play Koharu Yonemoto starting at the upcoming Japan Open.
Hirota has stopped playing the mixed for a while now. Hoki/Yonemoto played at the AG and it was a rather dismal performance against ZSW/HYQ. I don’t see the point of pushing Kaneko to be an XD player when he struggles to finish off rallies in his MD. I was thinking maybe Sonoda? But with the frenetic way he plays MD maybe he doesn’t have strength to play another discipline.
The All Japan Members Championship -- one of Japan's big three domestic tournaments -- started yesterday (The timetable, draw, players involved, and results can be seen at http://www.badminton-a.com/all61shakaijin/20180905index.htm <Japanese only>). This year, Momota is not featuring; the highest ranked MS being Ueda Takuma. In the MD, we have Hoki/Kobayashi and Kaneko/Kubota, amongst others. Actually, Koga/Saito are also listed. As they were due to play this morning, logistically, I am not quite sure how they will have been able to make it back in time from Spain. They may have predicted an earlier exit. WS players include Kawakami Saena, Hashimoto Yui, Nakai Yukino, Suzuki Haruko, etc, etc.... In WD, Shida/Matsuyama are featuring. Livestream will be available at http://www.smash-net.tv/ from the best 16 stage (September 4, possibly from 9:00 am, Japan time).
Ah, this finally explains why Shida/Matsuyama aren't playing Spain. They also play mixed doubles, Shida with Yugo Kobayashi and Matsuyama with Yunosuke Kubota, which leads me to believe the coaches still have hope for them. Apparently, this happened as well:
The All Japan Members Championship concluded today, with the following results (http://www.badminton-a.com/all61shakaijin/20180905index.htm): MS: Winner: Ueda Takuma (Unisys) Runner-up: Shimono Hashiru (Tonami) Third Place: Onodera Yusuke (Unisys); Watanabe Koki (Unisys) MD: Winners: Hoki/Kobayashi (Tonami) Runners-up: Kaneko/Kubota (Tonami) Third Place: Takeuchi/Matsui (Hitachi Info & Tel Engineering); Yamada/Watanabe (Saishunkan <coaches>) WS: Winner: Suzuki Haruko (Yonex) Runner-up: Shimoda Natsumi (Hiroshima Gas) Third Place: Urushizaki Mako (San-in Godo Bank); Kawakami Saena (Hokuto Bank) WD: Winners: Shida/Matsuyama (Saishunkan) Runners-up: Higashino/Nakanishi (Unisys) Third Place: Honda/Shimizu (Hitachi Chemical); Kato/Kashihara (ACT SAIKYO) XD: Winners: Kobayashi (Tonami)/Shida (Saishunkan) Runners-up: Kubota (Tonami)/Matsuyama (Saishunkan) Third Place: Inoue/Iwanaga (Unisys); Urai (Marusugi)/Miyaura (Yonex) Note the absence of NTT-East. Without Momota, Mitani, and Koga/Saito, the company could not manage better than the QF in any of the categories.
Companies aren’t really encourages to build much depth, however (due to the format of the competition). As such, it’s not necessarily a problem for them.
Can you explain this a little more? Why is it not a problem? As far as NTT-East is concerned, badminton comprises one of three "symbol teams", the other two being baseball and rowing. This time around, the corporation fielded twelve players, none of whom made it past the top eight, ... despite the fact that NTT-East is considered a "Top Four" team. Needless to say, these results are reported to the company, published on the company website... and probably proved disappointing, as the team is wholly financed by the company. Winning one of the top three domestic tournaments, i.e., the All Japan Championships, the Ranking Circuit, or this, the All Japan Members Championships confers prestige to the company to which the players are affiliated, and whose uniform they wear. And, despite the fact that the S/J League and All Japan Business Corporation Championships may prove a better battle-ground for inter-company rivalry, it is only at these three tournaments that players can actually pick up points to improve their domestic ranking. Having highly-ranked players, again, adds value to the corporate team. Generally, companies do not employ players for entirely altruistic reasons; they want to see results. As such, this kind of mediocre performance across the board can be considered problematic, ... I think. The company is over-reliant on Momota and Mitani, and really needs to attract more talent.
I think I explained myself poorly. What I meant that it is Typically not a problem, as they only need their top performers to achieve the results; whether player B finishes 4th or 16th has little effect on media coverage or ‘prestige’. Thus it is typically more interesting to invest in one outstanding talent than multiple good talents. In this particular case, whether their players reached 1/4 or 1/2 final makes little difference; they will always be compared to Momota, and bar a gold will therefore be considered a dissappointment. Best situation is having 2 players that can win, but this is a bad situation for the players themselves, as they would be forced to share opportunities. As such, the setup discourages a true depth in talent approach, instead promoting breadth of talent (across multiple companies).
I see your point. Having two outstanding ~ very good players/pairs in each category per team is, I believe, optimal, as it offers the top players a better environment to train in. Currently Momota probably only benefits from training at the national camps, unlike the players at, say Tonami or Unisys. However, another scenario would be to have one outstanding player to attract the media, and another player with the ability to, at least, reach the semi-finals or finals of domestic tournaments, i.e., the tournaments that companies are more actively supporting (chartered buses, cheer-leading, etc). I am not sure whether it differs in Europe, but in Japan, the home crowd is considered important. Suka Takahiro, the head coach of NTT-East, has publicly stated that the company is over-reliant on Momota, and needs to secure other talent. This was particularly evident when Momota sprained his ankle earlier this year, and was unable to compete in some rather vital S/J League matches.
Promotion of the Daihatsu-Yonex Japan Open is well underway. Stations around Tokyo are apparently showing the digital posters below. And to the delight of idol lovers, AKB 48 will be putting on a performance on the day of the finals.
In the ongoing saga concerning embezzlement of players' prize-money, on September 7, Imai Akihiro, former head-coach of Saishunkan (currently affiliated as a "supporting staff member" at Gifu Tricky Panders) requested arbitration from the Japan Sports Arbitration Agency (JSAA) in objecting to his lifetime expulsion from the Kumamoto Badminton Association. Edit: Imai's lawyer stated that the prize-money was not misappropriated by Imai, and alleged, on the contrary, that in 2015, Saishunkan Pharmaceuticals is suspected of having taken 10~20% of its players' prize-money. The NBA has yet to clarify its position on this issue.
The NBA Board of Directors held an extraordinary session today to determine the what punishment to mete out to Imai Akihiro and Yoshitomi Keiko (former head coach and coach of Saishunkan, respectively) for the misappropriation of players' prize-money, and decided as follows: Imai Akihiro: Indefinite non-acceptance of registration as a member of the NBA. (As Imai is presently not a registered member, he cannot be de-registered.) Yoshitomi Keiko: Indefinite de-registration from the NBA. (The same punishment as Tago's.) Both coaches are currently employed by Gifu Tricky Panders, the team to which FukuHiro and Imai's daughter transferred to earlier this year. Although the above punishment does not prevent them from continuing to support the players, both Imai and Yoshitomi are now officially unable to act as coaches in domestic and international tournaments as sanctioned by the NBA. What effect this will have on the World No. 1 WD pair, who left Saishunkan to join Imai, is yet to be seen.
JPN WD are a half of BWF Top 10. Yes! 5 of 10 WD are JPN pairs. • Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota (#1) • Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi (#3) • Shiho Tanaka/Koharu Yonemoto (#5) • Mayu MAtsumoto/Wakana Nagahara (#6) • Ayako Sakuramoto/Yukiko Takahata (#10)
Looking how big badminton has become in Japan, surprisingly to see the domestic league with top Japanese players still being played on wooden floorings!
There are 3 JPN players at INA National Circuit, Jakarta this week (this is the 6th 2018 circuit and the 3rd premier level by the way) and all of three players are going through semifinals today. The final will be tomorrow and KompasTV will broadcast the final matches tomorrow (13.00 local time). The names of JPN players with the respective age-group listed below: 1. Natsuki Higuchi (WS) 2. Ayaho Sugino (WS) 3. Ayumi Kamiyama (GS U-19) DRAW: • WS: https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=E05293E7-C2AB-485D-9BA7-6027BEDC70B8&draw=2 • GS U-19: https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=E05293E7-C2AB-485D-9BA7-6027BEDC70B8&draw=26 (Natsuki Higuchi) Djarum Badminton put them in the website news (sorry, it's only available in Indonesian).
Thanks for this post. Fuku/Hiro brought me back into badminton and I'm still catching up on. I just learned about their move to Gifu and was happy because Imai Akihiro looked like the biggest douche! Now he followed my girls to their new club? It's obvious that they tried to get away!