Unpopular opinion but I think it was rather like Christie's win at the Asiad where it was a one-off. Watching that match I think Fukushima/Hirota played better and were unlucky to lose
I don't know if that's an unpopular opinion, but I can tell you that I disagree. First of all, they beat Takamatsu, Kititharakul/Prajongjai and Polii/Rahaju in straight games en route to the final. Secondly, they've only become part of the A team last september. Their results in SS/500+ tournaments (+ pairs they've lost to): QF Korea 17 (Huang/Yu) 1st round Japan 17 (Chiang/Hung) SF France 17 (Lee/Shin) QF HK 17 (Chen/Jia) SF All England 18 (Rytter/Pedersen) QF Malaysia 18 (Takamatsu) F Indonesia 18 (Fukuhiro) QF Thailand (Tanayone) WC QF Japan 18 (Du/Li) F China 18 (Takamatsu) QF Korea 18 (Takamatsu) 1st round DK 18 (Piek/Seinen) I think those are fairly good results for their first year with the big girls. Especially when you consider that their results for the three Super 1000 tourneys this year have been SF, F, F and that the pairs who beat them were mostly world class pairs. Maybe we should give them a little more time before writing them off. Jojo is prettier though.
Just realize that KM and Yuki/Sayaka have won together 4 times (BAC, Indonesia Open, Japan Open, Denmark Open). The other titles where KM won is WC and Vietnam IC. Yuki/Sayaka is close to win WC, but they choked.
They do spend a good amount of time with the national team. The level of competition in MXD is not as intense as MD. While I was watching the semi MD game, all I could think is how at least one of the guys would make an excellent mixed player. Plus there's just such an abundance of WD players to pair up with. Higher chance of winning for sure.
I agree with you, they are youngest pair in Japan A Team and age is on their side, maybe they are inconsistent but when the time gone and they have earned valuable experience on court they will be the No.1 pair in Japan and possibly the world
Based on performances throughout this year, maybe in 2019, Sakuramoto/Takahata will replace Fukuman/Yonao to take part in Super 500 + tournaments
Fukuman/Yonao aren't even the members from Team A since last year. The reason they are still participating in WT500+ is because they are still the top committed players. Last year, they are still in the top 10 and because of that, they become the top committed players and obligated to play 12 from 15 WT500+. Having said that, I don't think JPN will send Fukuman/Yonao to WT500+ tournaments since they are out of the top 10. I believe that SakuraTaka will be in Team A next year and stay in the top 10 until the end of this year.
This is so weird that Japan can't produce a top 3 XD team. Japan has the best WD players in the world. Finding top female players that can play doubles is the hardest part in XD. As for the male players, Japan has some of the best MD in the world (not as good as the WD player, but Japan still has 3 MD teams in the top 11 of the world). But Japan cannot create a top XD team. Some poster mentioned that the clubs in Japan tend to be all mens or all womens or something like that, and that may contribute to weaker XD teams in Japan. While that may be true, from a technique and skill viewpoint, Japan can obviously produce female and male players with the very best technique and skill for doubles in the world. After 6 months to 1 year of playing together, any major teamwork issues in XD can be resolved. So it seems so weird that Japan is so weak in XD.
There are just 3 super 300 remaining this year, in Macau, India and Korea, so if SakuTaka cant win the titles or reach finals, its difficult for them to keep their position in top 10
@Nguyễn Việt Chiến @minions Don't forget that the All Japan will be extremely important in deciding who's on the A team and who isn't. Since Shida/Matsuyama are obviously winning that ( ), things might get a little crowded on the team bus. @galaxyduo As you rightly say, there's a gap in quality between the male and the female doubles players that can't be underestimated. They've tried so many combinations and none was convincing. I bet if you'd put Matsutomo or Matsumoto with Zheng Siwei or Zhang Nan, they would slay. With Yuki Kaneko, not so much.
Maybe the reason is the role of women in WD is different than in XD, especially for the playing style of Japan WDs, i have watched many matches when Japan try to put different female players with different male players and the performance the womens is so poorly, they are so error-prone and cant create chances at the net
I think Hoki has played good, especially in the match agains WangHuang, but the quality that Yonemoto and recent Nagahara have demonstrated is bad, even Matsutomo when played with Kobayashi is not good enough
In terms of technique and skill, the Japanese female WD players are not any weaker than the top female XD players in the world. Maybe the playing style, tactics, and teamwork of the Japanese female WD players can be adjusted for XD players. Maybe Kurako has more insight on this topic. IMO, Japan has all the tools to create the top XD team in the world. And maybe they will in a few years. It's just surprising that their XD lags so far behind their WD and MD, especially when they can draw from their pool of WD and MD players for XD.
Feels like if coach Park wanted to put more emphasis on MXD, then it would happen. Right now, MXD is like an afterthought. Just feels a bit frustrating when there are so many talented players from WD at disposal and MD's chance of winning anything significant is low, combined with less intense competition in MXD. Just makes more sense for Japan to load up in the MXD category.
The funny thing is, Japan has 3 MD teams in the top 10 ranking of the world: https://bwfbadminton.com/rankings/2/bwf-world-rankings/8/men-s-doubles/2018/42/?rows=25&page_no=1. From a skill and technique perspective, the Japanese national team certainly has skilled male doubles players. But they just can't mix the men and women together for an effective XD team
I know that. MD is incredibly **** at the moment, though. I have a hard time calling Kamura and Sonoda world class and I doubt that any of the two could make a top xd player. The other "top 10" pairs are the same kind of "top 10" players like Wang Tzu Wei or Kenta Nishimoto: they've won absolutely zilch in terms of important tournaments. And let's not forget that Inoue/Kaneko are actually older than KSS or Li/Liu. Technique they may have, but they are not tall/powerful enough.
While Japan can mix men and women together for an effective XD team, China, the country that produce so many top XD pairs try to combine top XD girls like double Huang to challenge the domination of Japan in WD. Perhaps each country have their own problem to deal with.
I much prefer Hirota pair with Hoki or Kobayashi. I don't know why Hirota/Hoki pair separated even if their performance was so good.
Wasn’t it because Hirota’s WD results were getting affected by her XD ones? Someone probably decided that she can’t handle playing two disciplines.