He challenged right as VA screamed. The umpire didn't look at him and missed it, pretty bad mistake on his part. The shot was out though so it didn't really matter all that much. You can see AA raise his hand as he walks towards the umpire, then relaxedly going to his gear box like they usually do on challenges. Nice gesture at the end, I was pretty sure he'd annihilate VA right before his spell of error at 12-8. VA looked shaken, I'm pretty sure his ankle feels a bit off as he's retied his shoe throughout this and yesterday's match, hope he hasn't injured anything serious just when he's back in top shape...
It's the first time I've seen their XD this tournament but you can tell from their previous scores, Matsutomo and Kaneko have been in good form. That comeback in G2 especially! It'll be an interesting final. Watagashi pair with strong back court and fast attacking vs Misaki and Yuki with strong net and solid defence. Personally I'm cheering for Watagashi but if the other pair has an answer for it then that's amazing.
Why don't you give vpn a try, melon vpn is pretty lite and pretty good, and as for tv holavpn works fine. I watch the matches on BWF as Hotstar quality is ****, and if I set 1080p on youtube it will be 1080p
Aaah, looks like everybody forgot about Yuta and how terrifying he has become. Tomorrow it'll be all about Yuta Watanabe, he is aiming for two AE titles in single year, pretty rare feat as I don't think anyone has achieved this. Now only if Momota was better this AE could have been a clean sweep, Endo san needs to keep his nerves on check. It ain't any different from All Japs Chmps, but on the AE stage
I’ll be very surprised if Yuta wins both. High chance the MD final going to 3 games, so he likely plays 5-6 close games against opponents who are very familiar with his game in the span of 4-5 hours. That’s going to affect his stamina no matter how in shape he is, especially since he’ll be doing the heavy lifting in XD at the tail end.
Hoo boy foreign fans not allowed to Tokyo Olympics, where 70-80% ticket revenues are from foreigners. Wonder how they ll recoup all those losses.
FINALS (10.00am) => https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/...5CD30E-3F46-4AAF-843A-EBA0677FF99C&d=20210321 The conclusion day for Yonex All England 2021 is coming, Japan rules doubles department to secure three titles already, a biggest achievement for Japan camp in this prestigious event albeit must admit this year edition is running in "abnormal circumstances". More appealing matches will pay attention to singles category where there's opportunity to witness new champion emerges this year... All Japanese MD final, very rare occasion occurs in top-flight tournaments, Endo/Watanabe have slight advantage to defend their crown here despite their world ranking is lower than his final opposition. Title-holders ran smoothly to tame the less experienced Danish unseedeed pair Bay/Molhede yesterday. Meanwhile it's first time ever for Kamura/Sonoda to reach maiden All England last round after series of previous attempts. World number five have quite trouble to tackle Danish number one Astrup/Rasmussen, 11-16 then slowly but sure they narrow the gap to seal the opening game, the Japanese duo tuned in their rhythm to take control over their rivals at following set. Japan current leading pairs and backbone to score glory in many important tournaments, very consistent and high discipline as only a few time that we saw they had been ousted in early rounds. Comparing their archrivals China and Korea, Japan is quite better in terms of equal capability between their pairs. FukuHiro never taste World Championships gold medal whilst MastuNaga never top All England podium, a highly likely close and fiery battle will happen between these two mighty combinations. Pornpawee Chochuwong exhibits tremendous improvement to beat more fancied opponent including semifinal foe, Pusarla Sindhu who looks frustrated when her attacking shots unables to break the Thai solid defense and less anticipate to retrieve counter-attack. The fully determined Chochuwong produces excellent clear shots at back line that causing Sindhu did misjudgement several times. The battle of former World Champions Nozomi Okuhara-Ratchanok Intanon presenting really enthralling turnaround, just three points away from victory Intanon slipped that momentum, ran out of steam to commit unforced error against the patient Okuhara. The turning point came at 14-18, Okuhara scores eight consecutive points that brought her to match point, then Intanon added one point more but it's not enough to deny Okuhara second All England final berth. These two players have different strength, Japanese is widely known has better endurance and fitness level while Intanon is gifted player with her technical skill to perform excellent quality shots. Chochuwong is on the way to create history if she could pass Okuhara, really intriguing duel to watch. “I’m very happy to be in the final. My plan was to control myself first and try every single shot, because she is fast and strong. After I won the first game, I think in the second she maybe made more mistakes than me,” said Chochuwong. One step closer for Lee Zii Jia to follow his illustrious predecessor Lee Chong Wei footstep, beating current's world best Kento Momota in quarterfinal is already big highlight in his career. The Malaysian has defeated almost all top 10 players including his final opponent today, Viktor Axelsen. Lee conquers Dutch underdog Mark Caljouw, the Malaysian quite shaky and nervous in second game before back to his focus to win the match. All Danish affairs delivers Antonsen played really below par in second game, probably this is part of his "cunning" tactic as he comeback stronger in deciding game and apparently succeeds at least until interval, 11-6 then second wind swings to Axelsen side to turn the tables and clinch final ticket. Just remembered the thrilling Lee-Axelsen showdown in semifinal last year, both players have similar type of play and body figure, tall and big smasher. 2017 World Champion is enjoying best time of his badminton journey, always cruising into final round since Barcelona Spain Masters 2020, a terrific trend during pandemic era. Never give up until last point, that's the mantra for Kaneko/Matsutomo, hard to believe this Japanese pair create magical comeback in huge deficit of second game, 4-16 against Rio silver medalist Chan PS/Goh LY and converting to win their semifinal match, leaving the Malaysians in sorrow and painful disappointment. Japan sole leading pair in this discipline, Watanabe/Higashino did their job as expected to subdue home favourites Ellis/Smith who can't do too much to reject their opponents ambition. Just perhaps, Kaneko/Matsutomo could be reliable Japan XD pair in upcoming tournaments, a new chapter for Misaki Matsutomo for her badminton career.
here's a freakish scenario: a + test or close contact tracing is suddenly revealed (from the tourney, uk nhs, badminton england, uk airport, etc.) before any of the finals matches start and japan is forced to withdraw. all that's left is axelsen v. lzj. 3 no contests, 1 walkover and a men's singles champ!
