Thoroughly enjoyed this type of game. I have say Japanese are one of the most innovative people. They have many interesting ideas in wrestling too in their NJPW, AJPW and others.
random comment... endo is soon to be 33. he's still competing at the highest level. the only other player from his generation is hendra setiawan (35), which is likely why he is overlooked and underrated.
No JPN players around in the final of French Open. A bad week for JPN team as a whole. JPN WD has lost its touch. At this point, only KM is super reliable.
Any live steam of match between Asuka Takahashi vs Mizui Hirari at the finals in CAFFINO Indonesia International Challenge 2019 ?? I am quite impressed by Asuka Takahashi, Mizui, Oie, Naraoka, Watanabe. But I hope Japan Badminton association can help them and bring out the best in them.
I don't think we should read too much into their French Open performance. After all, it's the second week of a long trip, and I suspect their whole schedule was put upside down due to the typhoon: they had to take another flight, and if it was not exactly the same time another day, it must have impacted their recovery and stamina, especially if there was rerouting involved. But PJB has been saying for a while that WD is not in a good state. I'm curious to see if they'll be able to fix it by Tokyo 2020.
I have summarised Bird Japan's MS and WS participation in the remaining tournaments of the year. Please refer to the following table: Two comments: 1. Naraoka, who had until this month been participating in tournaments on a self-financed basis, will henceforth be funded by the Japan Sports Council (JSC). 2. The top half of National Team B (Watanabe, Igarashi, Kawakami, Mine) seem to be getting far too few opportunities to participate in international tournaments. This is a shame, particularly for Watanabe Koki, who this year alone has progressed enough to reach WR 38.
Asuka Takahashi bt Mizui Hirari just as i suspected. Wish I could find a replay on youtube just to see how far Asuka has progressed.
Hmmm, Takahashi currently seems to be the strongest of the Takahashi-Mizui-Oie threesome. I was expecting Oie to progress a little further than was the case. ... Also Shimono.
I have purchased my tickets for the semi-finals and finals of the All Japan Championships commencing at the end of next month. This is the domestic event that will determine National Teams A and B for 2020, no less!! What changes are in store for us?
What is happening in JPN WDs! They have worlds top 3 pairs in WD but in last week Danish Open none of them reached the final and now in French Open none of them are in final again. I watched only JPN pair that manged to reach the SF of French Open yesterday against a Korean pair who has beaten them for the first time in their past meetings. I noticed how determined and aggressive the Korean pair were against the Japanese, who were tame in comparison. in the next year's Olympics in Japan, can't see any of them winning unless they have a paradigm shift. I feel the tide has turned now in WD where Japan had dominated in the past few years and now the Korean WD is fighting back and winning tournaments.
none of the japanese players have a go to offensive shot or overwhelming power. their defense and foot speed is great but it's not enough when you come across players with power and equal foot speed. wd in general is robotic but the koreans are starting to change it a little with power and shot making... advancing the game so to speak. the weapon wd players lack is a fast inside-out cut drop (sung ji-hyun, wang yihan, zhang ning) and a fast cross court slice drop (carolina marin) from the baseline. right now the defensive stance can stay deep for a smash or clear. when a player tries to deceive w/ a drop from the baseline it's so slow that is never scores a point. it gives plenty of time for the defense to come in and reach it. basically its used to initiate a position change for the offense. fast cut/slice shots will force the defense to stand closer, thereby opening up the court. i'm surprised this has never become a thing in wd.
True, not just for the singles players. Why the young wd doubles sit at home during Macau Open when their seniors are getting beat left, right and center by the Koreans and Chen/Jia at every major tournaments, is beyond me. I guess this is all due to the tournaments being planned one year ahead. Watanabe and Naraoka need to be pushed hard, but it's not happening at all. And while the youngsters in ws, wd and ms are being neglected in favour of the seniors, the top wd pairs seem less and less likely to be in the drivers seat for Tokyo. Lose-lose situation.
Last year National Team B participated in the Macau Open; this year, however, the timing of the Korean Masters has enabled the NBA to consider the latter as an alternative venue. To the detriment of junior players though, the emphasis has shifted to one of giving Team A a last minute opportunity to grab some points. As a result, Team B will be left vying for scraps in an excessively competitive field, and they have very little chance of advancing point-wise, ... And, to top it all, this comes after many will have suffered a drop in the rankings for not being able to maintain their Macau points from last year. Absolutely great scenario!
The S/J League season commences this weekend (website: https://www.sj-league.jp/ <Japanese>), with the top ten corporate teams (both male and female) featuring in Sapporo. Some of the teams will be fielding 内定選手 (i.e., new players, usually promising HS or university graduates, due to be formally employed from April 2020), although I can't spot Naraoka's name anywhere. @Cunning Linguist, it seems as though Saishunkan has picked up a new WD player → https://www.sj-league.jp/assets/pdf/2019/037_badmintonS-JleaguePG_HSK_F1.pdf.
Meanwhile, at the Macau Open, Naraoka Kodai has advanced to R2. He won today's match against Suppanyu Avihingsanon in straight games! Post-script: Naraoka's opponent tomorrow is Brice Leverdez, who could prove a little trickier.
Thanks, I didn't know it was already starting. Did you see the changes to Tricky Panders? No pandas anymore, the team is called American Vape now, the new logo is an owl, and Kim Ha Na is listed as one of the players.
Yep, ... I also noted that there are three transferees to the team, the most notable being Suzuki Haruko, and that Fukushima is captain. Incidentally, Uchiyama Chihiro, the new addition to Saishunkan, doesn't look too bad. She came second in this year's Inter-High, both in singles and doubles, and was on the National Junior Team at the World Junior Championships (Singles: R16, Doubles: QF).
I remember Beiwen Zhang is also a member of American Vape but didn't see her in the player registration list. Did she leave the team?
