Gillian is very concise on the issue, stating there is only 1 place left for Japan after the world champions are given their automatic slot.
Both Mizui Hirari (WS) and Naraoka Kodai (MS) have won their opening matches at the Youth Olympic Games currently held in Buenos Aires (https://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/...CC49DD-1541-47FE-914D-5A285C4AD18C&d=20181007). Mizui, who is unseeded, has a tougher group placement than Naraoka (MS seed no. 2); she has been placed in the same group as WS seed no. 2, Wang Zhiyi. Incidentally, in the Badminton Asia Junior U17 & U15 Championships 2018, which finished yesterday, Akechi Hina (aged 13) won the U15 WS category. She was also runner-up in the women's doubles. MS U17 hope, Takei Riki, was knocked out in R1 by the eventual champion, Korea's Jin Yong. Turning to the domestic front, the 69th All Japan Inter Collegiate Championships will commence on October 12. I will be rooting for Koga Minoru (Waseda U) in the MS category, although he will be facing competition from Yamazawa Naoki (Hosei U), Makino Keita (Tsukuba U), and Omoto Shota (Nippon Sport Science U).
Hina Akechi looks promising.. she can win next year as well....which team does she train with? Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk
She is on the Junior National Team, but apart from the national team's training camps, I expect that she will only be training with her junior high school team at the moment → Yanai Junior High School in Yamaguchi Prefecture at the tip of Honshu. But, as two of her JHS badminton club members are also on the national team, it can't be a bad school for girls' badminton.
Any club activities going on during this break? Is there an official youtube channel that shows these matches.
The 69th All Japan Inter Collegiate Championships came to a close yesterday, with the following results: MS Champion: Koga Minoru (Waseda U, 4th year) Runner-up: Obayashi Takuma (Waseda U, 1st year) Both players are actually on National Team B. Koga has now won the MS category consecutively, and I am sure that he won't face too much difficulty in finding a corporate team to employ him from April 2019. Personally, I hope that he replaces the ineffective Baba Yusuke at NTT-East. Incidentally, MS runner-up Obayashi, went on to win the MD category. He is still only nineteen, and was MS victor in the Inter High School Championship last year. WS Champion: Kayama Miho (Tsukuba U) MD Champions: Onodera Masayuki/Obayashi Takuma (Waseda U) WD Champions: Uesugi Natsumi/Suzuki Narumi (Meiji U) Men's Team: Waseda U Women's Team: Tsukuba U
Have any of you check the M&Q for Syed Modi International? Looks like Unisys sends most of its members to compete there. Looks like they are eager to qualify for HSBC BWF World Tour Final. MS - Sakai isn't registered there. His rank in Race to Guangzhou is too low. Even if he participates there, it doesn't make any difference. WS - Only ST is registered. NO isn't registered there. But, looking at the current position in Race to Guangzhou, NO doesn't need any additional points from lower tournaments. I don't know if ST can overtake NO or not. MD - Inoue/Kaneko and Endo/Watanabe will be participating. Looks like they want to collect as many points as possible to qualify for World Tour Final. MD is erratic lately. The position of MD can change drastically after each tournaments. WD - TakaMatsu will be participating. Even though they are safe in top 8, they are not in a safe position to qualify as there are many top JPN WD in the top 8. I guess they really want to qualify because they failed last year. XD - Watanabe/Higashino will be participating. The reason is the same as MD.
The world tour finals should be quite important in preparation for Olympic qualification. It is a chance to pick up points and therefore have seeded positions in tournaments in the Olympic qualification period.
Since Japan is the Olympic host nation, does everyone still need to go through the normal qualification route? Is there a quota on the number of teams since they have an overabundance of WD pairs?
Any country, including host country Japan, can send maximum 2 players/pairs to one category. This means JPN WDs have to fight it out to secure the top two JPN WD. The only privilege that the host has is the host can send 1 MS and 1 WS should JPN fails to qualify one player in MS and WS. However, JPN doesn't need that as every category has JPN players/pairs at the top ten.
Thanks for the info. Seems like the WD pairs will have more intense competition within their own camp.
I know that but cant help but think the feeling when you realized that you are WC champion and dont get a chance to perform in Asiad is much worse
Why doesn't Japan put more focus on MXD? They have many female players to choose from. Put more guys from MD into Mixed instead. Much better of winning.
I heard in one of the recent Danish Open games, probably one with Yuta&Arisa, that in Japan their club system mostly has only men or only women players in a club. Hence getting a good XD combination is harder.