Even though they were ranked #1, I kept on thinking Qing/Zhao were the best WD in the world. Now Qing/Zhao lost to these Japanese pairs in AE, and also lost in early round in Swiss Open. Now I think these Japanese ladies should deserve to be the best WD in the world now.
I was thinking the same. It felt like they were "what was left" (but still good enough to be top 3 or so) after a Chinese pair or two were out of the running due to not having 10 played tournaments and what-not. The way they played in AE though... if they can keep it up they definitely deserve the #1 spot. Very glad to see it.
Misaki chan twisted her left ankle in the early of deciding game with TQ/ZYL but she kept playing and won the match. Misaki chan twisted her right ankle in last year japan open which forced her to walkover on the next day and withdrawn from many tournaments. I hope she is fine for this time cuz Asia Championships waiting for her in next two weeks.
As expected. Misaki chan withdrawn from the final match of Singapore Open. T_T Hope for a speedy recovery!
Yes, I really wish her full recovery. Current WD won't be existing without her as we need someone who can challenge CHN dominance. I feel like they and INA pair are the only one that can take TYT/YY now.
congratulations for MM&AT for Asia Champion title! They won 4 tiltles this year so far. 1 GPG, 1SS, 1 SSP & 1 Continental Championship. Hope the best for them this year!
Well, I'm not sure why there's no Ayaka Takahashi thread? I guess here's the best place... It's great to see them win despite Ayaka being in bad form. Her consistency shone through today, managing to play the shots and do her job even when lacking the confidence. It was also good to see Misaki put in the extra effort to help out her partner.
Well she's come a long way, hasn't she? Along with Takahashi of course! Say does anyone here does translation of videos? Found a few video clips off YouTube post their Olympic gold medal win, but no subs available
If only I knew Korean or Japanese. Keeping up to date with my favourite players would be so much easier.
Got lazy and switched from word-for-word to freestyle in the middle, but this is pretty much it for the first video: The interviewer introduces them and congratulates them, then asks them their thoughts on winning a historical first medal. Ayaka: Very happy for winning after working hard for four years with this as the dream, especially since we couldn't appear in London. Misaki: In the four years between London and Rio we experienced a lot of things; being able to play our best game and winning the gold medal on this stage we set as goal makes me very happy. Interviewer: Have you fully realised/felt that you've won the gold medal? (a bit hard to hear one of the words but pretty much) Both: A little lol Interviewer: Well then, let's look back at the match; first off it was an amazing match. For the first time in the tournament the opponent took the first game from you, from that in what way did you recover your feelings? Ayaka: Not everyone can stand on the stage called the finals so basically we thought that as long as we could play without regrets it's fine even if we lose, and I think that connected to being able to play our own game in the second set. Interviewer: But didn't you get a little down/depressed? Misaki: Not really, well, the opponent has experienced the olympics many times more than us so it's obvious we'll be lead by them, and we went in with the mindset that as long as we could win 30 to 29 in the end it's fine so it's good that we were able to attack until the end. Now they show a video of the end of the game; talk about taking those points back and whether it was predecided that Misaki would go front. Misaki says they thought they would lose anyway so they might as well chase the opponent and attack. Interviewer says in the end Takahashi finished it and Takahashi says she can't remember anything towards the end so she's not really sure how they won. <slowmo and no sound> They have a laugh at Misaki doing the "guts" pose and tears coming out; happiness etc etc. Interviewer asks about the view from the podium and Misaki says it was worth all the hard work up until that point because she wanted to see that view. Now they talk about when they formed the pair 10 years ago. Interviewer asks if they could imagine winning an olympic gold medal back when they were in high school and they of course didn't. She asks what each other's existence means for them, looking back at the road until now. Ayaka talks about them both originally being singles players and not really knowing about doubles, but that the pairing just really worked for them. That really showed her how fun doubles is and she's grateful for that. Misaki says that if she hadn't paired with Ayaka she wouldn't be on the olympic stage and that she was able to overcome and experience a lot of things thanks to Ayaka and that it was worth not giving up on wanting to become number one in the world together and that she's grateful. Now the dude starts talking about that there's likely a lot of children watching and asks them what's most important in the game of badminton. Ayaka says that, just like in today's match, it's important not to give up. Misaki says that it's important not to forget to enjoy the game. The interviewer says that both of their mothers came to the arena, and asks if that became a strength to them. Ayaka replies that international stages isn't really a place where it's easy for family to come but that they got a lot of support and wanted to show off their winning appearance in the end. The interviewer says Ayaka sent a LINE message to her mother after the match and Ayaka basically just says yeah and that she got some picture in return (not really sure what). Misaki says she also saw it. Interviewer says that after the match Misakis mother talked about that they did good and thanks for taking us to Brazil etc. and asks if she wants to say anything to her mother. Misaki says that she's grateful for her 'letting' her play badminton from a young age (and cries, nawwww). Interviewer: it's thanks to the cooperation of the family. How is the "weight" of the gold medal? Ayaka: we haven't shown it to the family or local team (I think) so we quickly want to do that. Thanks and congratulations etc.
Second video goes something like this: Interviewer: Congratulations! You won! Gold medal! How are you feeling? Misaki: Well, I wasn't doing well in the first game, but in the end I wanted to let it all out without giving up and was able to do that and come back so that was really good. Ayaka: Well, in the end I thought in that situation we are stronger and we were able to play and that was good. Interviewer: congratulations etc. The dude just says who it was and "to think that they would win like that in the end ..." --- cut --- Interviewer: Congrats etc., how are you feeling? Ayaka talks about concentrating so much she doesn't really know how they won in the end and it's all like a dream. Interviewer: we saw tears from the both of you. How was it from the top of the podium? Ayaka says she really got the realisation that they won the olympics when standing at the top of the podium. The interviewer talks about the big expectations on them on them to win the gold. Misaki talks about not leaving a good record before and stuff. The interviewer asks how their first olympic was. Misaki laughs while saying it was really long. Ayaka expands saying they couldn't appear in London and that it was fun being able to finally be able to appear after these four years. Interviewer asks what they want to say to each other. Misaki says she wouldn't be able to be here without Ayaka and that she didn't think this would really come true so she's thankful. Ayaka says all she has is grateful feelings so "thank you and good work".
